Flickering Sparks
by Foxbear
Summary: Over the eons Starscream preformed many scientific experiments. When the Decepticons dispose of some of his test subjects the Autobots accept a spark wrenching responsibility. Sequel to Blood and Energon
1. A Mission

Dying Embers 1

A Safe Mission

A Transformers Prime FanFiction

"No Jess, I'm sorry," June Darby found herself reluctantly saying. "I just have too much on my plate at the moment. You know I would love to go with you. Oh, Jack is doing fine. But he's at that complicated age."

The woman shifted the phone as she stood over the sink and smiled out the window. The boy in question was just finishing washing the last soap suds off of a gleaming blue motorcycle. Complicated indeed.

"Well I wish you the best of luck. Yes maybe next year. Goodbye Jess," the woman place the phone on the counter and brushed a loose strand of hair out of her eyes.

"Hey Mom," Jack called as he came in. "Who was that on the phone?"

"Dr. Black. I called her to cancel our trip to Haiti."

"Oh scrap," the young man said his blue eyes widening, "I forgot all about that."

"Watch you language," his mother said absently as she put the last of the dishes away. "With everything that's going on it was just the right thing to do Jack."

"I'm so sorry Mom," he said. "This is so unfair. I know how much you were looking forward to working with the midwives."

"Mammababy Hati can survive without one more nurse," she said with a smile, "and isn't Arcee waiting for that wax?" She indicated a pot on the stove.

Jack started and grabbed the pot in one hand and a pile of rags in the other.

"Thanks Mom," he called over his shoulder as he rushed the cooling liquid out to his waiting partner.

O

O

Soundwave stood nearly motionless at the helm of the Nemesis. Screen after screen of data flowed by his smooth impassive face. Every so often his long thin talons would flick out and mark some irregularity in the flow. At one point he stopped the steam for several seconds to study a particular reading. The Decepticon began to probe deeper into the ships records. More irregularities began to crop up. After a time the con silently left his post. Equally silently a drone stepped up to take his place.

Soundwave strode through the dark corridors of the Nemesis. Drones ducked out of his way as the tactical officer passed. The Decepticon stopped before a sealed doorway. He was in a deserted section of the massive ship. It had been badly damaged shortly after leaving Cybertron and never fully repaired. He forced the warped doors open and stepped into a near empty cargo bay. The bulkheads were charred and bent. Cables and ruptured conduits stuck out of the walls. Soundwave studied the maintenance records. There was substantial damage to the superstructure that only prolonged drydock on Cybertron itself could fix, but there was more to this. Basic maintenance had never been preformed, maintenance that Starscream would have been in charge of as second in command.

Soundwave walked cautiously over to the far wall. Another irregularity; the room was too small. He carefully examined what appeared to be a random fissure in the buckled bulkhead. With the utmost care he ran his servos over the crack. He detected and deactivated no less than three booby-traps, then triggered a small mechanism.

The wall folded away to reveal a small escape pod. The craft had been heavily modified. Several energon lines fed into ports on the side. Here was the odd power drain that had drawn his attention. A power drain that Starscream had been concealing since the Nemesis had departed Cybertron. The Decepticon carefully analyzed the situation and then terminated the power to the device. To his surprise scans showed live energon still inside. The tactical officer picked up a data pad that was attached to the pod and scanned through it.

For the briefest of moments surprise stiffened the implacable Deception's frame. He reached out and touched the pod almost reverently. Quickly Soundwave compiled all the data and sent it to Megatron in a compressed data burst. Seconds ticked by as he waited for the Decepticon leader to respond. Finally it did. Soundwave stiffened again. For perhaps the first time in his existence the mech considered questioning Megatron's orders. The impulse was quickly crushed. Calmly Soundwave gave the necessary orders. The pod was carefully moved to an outer hold and vented into space.

O

O

Perhaps it was chance, perhaps something more, that guided the pod on its short journey. Some long dormant program woke as the small vessel fell down into the gravity well of the blue planet. The engine within coughed to life and spread electromagnetic shields across the undersurface while stabilizing the spin. The great magnetic field of the planet caught the shields and sent the pod skipping across the upper atmosphere like a stone across a pond. The natural curves of the field guided the craft towards the northern pole. The shields twisted and wove, sending the pod and its occupants in a lazy spiral down towards the safety of the planet's surface below. When gravity finally won over the dying engines the craft plummeted.

This struggle might have gone unnoticed were it not for chance, or something else, intervening again.

*Romeo Alpha, Sierra Tango,* a man's voice crackled over the radio. *Please tell me you see that.*

*Sierra Tango, Romeo Alpha. Roger that. But what is that?* A woman's voice answered.

Two Piper Navajo Chieftain Airplanes cruised over the Bering Strait. Their silver white bodies were highlighted with forest green and aquamarine striping. The pilots, normally chatting away on the long flight to Russia were both intently focused on a very strange falling star.

*I don't have a clue. It's coming down fast but definitely controlled. Not a burnt out satellite. Not a plane. Help me get a triangulation coordinates and then we'll call this in to the Coast Guard.*

*Roger that Babe.*

A few moments of silence followed.

*Hey Babe? Are you getting what I'm getting?*

*Whatever that is it's headed straight for Diomede Island.*

*But which one?* both of them were old enough to remember the Cold War and old fears began to creep up their backs.

*It doesn't matter to us. I'll just radio this into the Coast Guard and we'll be on our merry way. These Christmas presents aren't going to deliver themselves. Romeo Alpha out.*

*Sierra Tango clear.*

To the north of the two nervous pilots the pod finally gave out its last gasp of energy and fell to rest on the larger of two small islands, unaware of the history that separated them.

O

O

*Arcee, head down the left canyon five hundred yards,* Optimus Prime ordered. *There should be a path you can take to gain high ground on the drones. Bulkhead and I will circle around and meet up with you at the pass.*

*Understood Optimus,* the second in command replied curtly. *Bumblebee, cover me.*

*Optimus be careful I'm reading reinforcements coming in from the west,* Ratchet warned over the comm.

*Thank you old friend,* the Prime responded.

The red and white medic stared grimly at the consol in front of him. Four blue life signals glowed, clearly outnumbered among dozens of red Decepticon indicators.

*Optimus,* the medic said with trepidation, *The Cons are broadcasting interference over an impossibly large area. I cannot groundbridge you out and I estimate it will take at least eight hours for you to clear the area on the ground.*

There was a pause on the other end of the comm. Ratchet could almost hear the gears turning in the Prime's mind; calculating safety, escape, combat.

*Understood Ratchet. Maintain constant contact.*

On the observation platform Jack sat on an office chair. His back was ramrod straight and his face impassive. The only sign of his nervousness was the helmet spinning in his hands. The medibot glanced at him and felt a spark of compassion for the young human. Ratchet cast his mind about quickly trying to find something useful for Jack to do. The human's living area was spotless. Every piece of equipment that a human could manage was already organized thanks to the young man. Ratchet allowed himself a small smile. These situations were all too common he was afraid, and the human's tendency to distract himself with productive activities didn't leave much undone around the base.

A flashing indicator claimed the medibot's attention. He was about to respond, but hesitated.

"Jack, answer that for me," Ratchet snapped out.

The human jumped and ran over to the secondary controls. He pulled up the programs to scramble his voice and image. The screen crackled to life.

"Prime!" Fowlers penetrating voice roared out of the speakers. Ratchet sent up a silent prayer of thank for the impulse that had made him turn the call over to the human.

"Agent Fowler," Jack said calmly, "the bots are occupied right now. Can I take a message?"

"Jack? Look this is really important. I need to speak to Prime," the agent said.

Jack could see the middle-aged man wasn't doing well. There were bags under his eyes and his suite was rumpled from days of wear. In his eyes was a frantic urgency.

"Sorry Fowler, but he's in the kitchen at the moment, with everyone except the Doctor," the young man explained, feeling a glow of pride at getting to use the code words.

"Scrap," Fowler growled. "How long until dinner's done?"

"Ratchet says at least eight hours,"

"Jack, I've got three separate missions going simultaneously, all of which involve MECH. And now the Kremlin and D.C. are breathing down my back to take care of something. Every man I've got with the proper clearance is tied up, I need the Autobots now."

"Well they're a bit busy trying not to get killed by the cons," Jack pointed out.

Fowler let out a growl of frustration and slammed his fist down on the table in front of him. He stared intently out into space for a moment mind whirling. Suddenly he glanced up sharply at the young man and smiled.

"So, how's your Russian, Smith?"

O

O

"It's a perfectly safe mission Mom," Jack was saying. "No cons, no MECH. It would be a real help to Fowler. I probably won't even have to do anything. Just stand around and look official until Fowler can get a retrieval team to collect the debris."

Mrs. Darby ground her teeth quietly as she stared out the window at the rising Nevada sun. Every mother had to go through this as their children grew up she reminded herself; many recently with both wars in the Middle East. She had been looking forward to spending some of her time off with her son. Now, a slow smile spread across her face.

"Yes."

"I mean it's… wait, what?" Jack stuttered, caught off guard by the woman's sudden capitulation.

"Yes, you can go," June clarified reaching for her bag, "under one condition."

O

O

"Both of you?" Fowler blinked in surprise at them across the screen.

"Yes," the nurse said firmly. "If this mission is as safe as you make it out to be then it should be fine if I come along."

"Mrs. Darby it's just a matter of getting you the proper clearance," Fowler protested. "This is the Russians we're dealing with. It is not easy to bluff…" The agent trailed off when he saw the determination in her eyes.

"A currier will meet you in Anchorage with the proper documents," he sighed rubbing his forehead, "along with the mission briefing. Fowler out."

"All right, let's get this show in the road!" Jack called out cheerfully. Part of him was a little disappointed to have his mom along on what was supposed to be his first solo mission. But a much larger part of him than he was willing to admit was vastly relieved.

"Wait just a minute Jack," Mrs. Darby said firmly.

Jack stopped entering the coordinates and looked at his Mom nervously.

"What exactly is the weather in Anchorage right now?"

The young man stopped and glanced down at his the cotton cameos he wore, understanding dawning on his face. He pulled up the weather channel and glanced over the forecast.

"Cloudy, and in the low twenties," he said.

The woman went to the car and pulled out two heavy coats, gloves, hats, and thick socks. They bundled up and Jack entered the coordinates. One bridge later and they found themselves in a dim cluttered hanger. Two planes in different stages of repair sat on the concrete. Stacks of boxed goods waited to be shipped out to the Alaskan bush.

"Dr. Green, Private Smith?" a cheerful voice called out.

They turned to face a smiling middle aged woman.

"I'm Cinnamon I'll be you pilot today," she said. "The government currier is waiting for you in the office."

They followed her inside the building, and she left them with a man in a dark suit in a small office.

"Johnson!" Jack exclaimed in surprise on seeing the federal agent.

"Smith, good to see you again," the fed growled at him. "Dr. Green, thank you for coming on such short notice. Your instructions are in here, along with your paperwork. Please familiarize yourself with them on the ride out to the island."

He handed each a thin manila envelope and ushered them toward a small prop plane that was idling on the runway.

"The trip will take several hours but now we can tell the Russians that you are on the way. God speed."

Slightly bewildered by the hurry Jack and June scrambled up into the plane. The pilot nodded at them and proceeded with the preflight. They sat down in the rear of the plane across the aisle from each other. Jack opened his envelope. It was the same dossier he'd used before when Optimus had needed a human's assistance on a mission. Private K. Smith, stationed out of fort Wainwright, AK. His mother handed him hers with a grin. Apparently she was Jane Green, PhD; the leading expert on xenobiology in the US. Jack gave a smile at that. It was true enough that no human on the planet knew more than she did about Cybertronian biology. Not even MECH.

The flight out was long and cold. The small aircraft's heater struggled and roared but was fighting a losing battle. By the time the pilot shouted back that they were ready to land both of them were freezing. The plane touched down on an impossibly small airstrip on the smaller of the two islands. Jack and June bailed out shivering. Two burly men in parkas hurried them into a building. Hot tea was pushed into their hands and a bustling sergeant ushered them into the bathrooms to change into warmer clothes.

"The Ruskies were extremely pleased when we told them we were sending the US's leading expert on xenobiology out to examine the situation," the base commander was saying as they rode over the thick sea ice to the Russian controlled island.

"Yes, why exactly was I summoned?" Mrs. Darby asked, bracing herself as the caterpillar treads went over a particularly large bump. "My briefing only mentioned debris of a questionable nature. Surely any engineer could examine that."

"It's best if you just wait and see for yourself," the officer returned evasively. "The important thing is that the two governments are making nice and sharing this time."

"This time?" June asked arching her eyebrows.

The commander chuckled and pulled his parka tighter around his face.

"Odd things happen out here Dr. Green. Just keep your eyes open."

"You should not have come," groaned the burly Russian officer who met them at the base. "We sent message, bad thing happen. You did not receive it?"

"What exactly do you mean, 'bad thing'?" the American commander growled, his hand twitching towards a lump under his parka.

"Neyt," his fellow officer reassured him, "not gun trouble, things are breaking down. Computers fail electronics on the fritz. Communications are down. That sort of thing."

"Boris, this is Dr. Green the xenobiologist," the commander quickly introduced them.

"They sent a woman?" Boris asked in surprise.

"Yes they did," June said calmly.

"Ah, that is good," the man muttered.

Mrs. Darby glanced sharply at the American officer who only shrugged.

"Dr. Green, you and your assistant go take a look at the space craft while I investigate this," the commander ordered.

Mrs. Darby arched her eyebrows at her son, who shrugged his shoulders. Random debris had quickly turned to an entire spacecraft that was interfering with communications. "Safe" mission indeed. Nevertheless she quietly followed their guide up a short flight of stairs cut into the snow and along a well tramped path across the top of the island. The darkness was disturbing she had to admit as they plodded along, the wind biting through their parkas. Stars flickered overhead as they approached a large grey tent. There were lights gleaming out from the flaps of the tent.

Their guide opened the tent for them and indicated a battered pod in the center. June drew in a sharp breath and Jack let out a small cry. There was no doubt the pod was Cybertronian. It was about the size of a minivan, scorched and burned from atmospheric entry. The crash had buried it in the snow and the handiwork of man had peeled the already ruptured top layer back so they could see inside. Three small forms were curled up connected to various tubes.

"Sparklings," June whispered.


	2. Warmth

Dying Embers 2

Warmth

A Transformers Prime Fanfiction

There was a sudden growl and stutter and the tent was filled with silence. With a thick curse a man in a parka walked over and began restarting a rusty generator. Jack wondered idly why such a tactically important base didn't earn better equipment but the flickering lights on the control panels drew his attention. He jumped down into the pod and began scrolling through a quick diagnostic.

June examined the small forms in the pod closely. From what Ratchet had told her they were smaller than the average for Cybertronian young; each no larger than a good sized watermelon. They were curled up in fetal positions. Round silver heads with large shuttered optics rested on little fists. The largest had a thick coil like a lobster at its caudal end, but the smaller two were simple bipeds. Staring down at them June felt old instincts stirring, things she hadn't experienced since Jack was very small. They were, cute, she realized with a smile.

"Power is at twenty percent," he called up, "and dropping fast. The atmospheric entry did a lot of damage. Fortunately none of the main lines ruptured on landing, but there are a lot of minor energon leaks. I can't find it! There are too many missing screens." Jack growled in frustration.

"Can't find what?" Mrs. Darby asked.

"A diagnostic on them," he waved at the still forms with their shuttered optics. The young man paused to think for a moment, then glanced quickly over at the soldier tending the furnace. His mother nodded in understanding and walked over to the machine.

"Do you need any assistance?" she asked with a smile.

With the only witnesses distracted Jack carefully pulled off his thick gloves and rested a hand on the warm metal head nearest him. With a deep calming breath he closed his eyes and reached out with the other sense. A small bright star glowed out from the core of the little one. The human let out a gasp of delight at the beauty of the spark. It was almost painful to tear his awareness away to look at the others. He rested his hand on each in turn, amazed anew at the wondrous light they emitted. Something whispered at the edge of his awareness, something was wrong. Jack shook his head and came back to the dim light of the cold tent.

He signaled his mother to come back. She left the soldier to his work and climbed carefully down into the pod.

"They are alive," he whispered softly to her. "But they're hooked into the pod's systems pretty intricately. It will take me a while to get them free. If I don't, I think they will die with the pod," Jack's voice broke at the end.

Mrs. Darby smiled at him reassuringly and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sure you can do what needs to be done," she whispered in return.

Jack nodded and turned to the task. He ran his fingers over the screen, grimacing when they picked up an odd orange stain. Finding a glyph he recognized he scrolled through command after command. Hours slipped by as he became engrossed in the task. He didn't notice it start to warm up when the furnace began to roar again. Finally he let out a cry of triumph. Valves hissed and cables fell away from the small forms. The Russian mechanic gave a shout of fear and pulled Mrs. Darby back from the scene as six little optics snapped open with fearful chirps.

Jack stared in fascination at the brilliant blue optics of the smallest of the sparklings. The little one stared back at him with trepidation on its face.

"I'm going to help you," the human whispered softly stretching out a hand.

A small whimper came from the little bot as Jack gently touched him. The human stroked the little mech's head and the sound faded as it shuttered its optics. A soft purr rose up as the young man continued to speak soothingly and touch the little one. A chirp to his left distracted Jack and he turned to see the largest sparkling staring at him intently. Both of the others were now he realized. The one he'd been petting let out a disgruntled chirrup and clutched his hand.

"Huh, you liked that did you?" the human asked with a grin.

The sparkling returned his smile. Jack carefully reached down and scooped the little one up. The pod was letting off warning noises now but Jack ignored them. The sparklings were in no danger from it. The creature curled up into a ball and leaned into Jack with a delighted chirp.

The human reached out to the largest one who was wriggling and beeping indignantly. Seeing the treatment its sibling was getting it wanted in on the action. The young man stumbled a little as he took the weight of the second child. The long caudal structure suddenly uncoiled into an impossibly long centipede like tail and wrapped itself around the human's waist. As disturbing as that was at first it served to balance them better. The third was actively wailing now and reaching out for him. Jack knelt in front of it and carefully juggled the other two while he pulled the third onto his lap. He sat there a moment to get his balance. Now that all three were together and touching their new protector they seemed content. The smallest started to purr happily and soon the other two picked it up.

Jack smiled and tried to stand up. The folly of that hit him a second after gravity and inertia carried him over and introduced his back to the many sharp pokey things on the damaged consol. The three sparklings chirped in concern.

"You see the American fool released the beasts and now they are devouring him!" A voice with a thick Russian accent distracted Jack from his predicament.

"Mr. Smith!" a commanding voice boomed out. "Are you okay?"

Jack managed to get one arm free and give the assembled a quick thumbs up.

"I'm fine. Just testing to see if they obeyed the law of gravity," he quipped through gritted teeth. "They do!"

He heard someone scramble down beside him and his mother's voice began crooning softly. The largest of the little Cybertronians unwrapped its tail from around his waist and he felt a weight lifted off his chest. Strong hands lifted him up and he blinked in a strong light.

"Let me take that larger one Private," the American commander ordered.

Jack reluctantly handed over the other biped sparkling. But the soldier was gentle and soon had the little one comfortable. Jack was just about to ask where he'd come from when the older man glanced sharply at the display on the pod.

"Is it supposed to be doing that Smith?"

Jack glanced down at the screen and felt his stomach lurch. He reached out and began running the fingers of one hand over the display.

"It's self destructing!" he called out in exasperation.

"We've got to evacuate the island," one of the soldiers said.

"No!" Jack protested. "Not that kind of destructing. I mean something is destroying the data internally; wiping the memory. It must be a failsafe."

The human shifted the sparkling from one arm to the other trying to work the controls.

"Give little one to me," the mechanic said curtly.

Jack seemed reluctant to surrender the last infant. The man gave an understanding grin.

"Ja, is okay. I have one of my own at home. I know what I do!"

Somewhat mollified the young man handed over his burden and turned to address the flickering lights. A sudden piercing wail filled the tent. Jack turned in surprise. The littlest sparkling was reaching out to him with all its might and crying out in distress. He looked frantically up at his mother who was soothing the other two. But it was the mechanic who came up with the solution.

"Here! You will be an Eskimo Babushka," he yanked the hood of Jack's parka dawn and carefully set the sparkling in the pouch it formed. The young man reached back and stroked the little head, feeling the suddenly quiet creature snuggle into the back of his neck. Once he felt balanced he went back to examining the dying Cybertronian craft.

"They must have imprinted on Private Smith," he heard his mother whisper.

"Okay," Jack called out, "here's the deal. We have two problems. One; there appears to be some kind of virus destroying the data from within. Two; the pod itself is dying, leaking energy like a sieve. It's going to be a race to see what fails first but we don't have much longer to access the data. Get me a camcorder and I'll pull up as much information as I can before it crashes."

"Neyt! All electronics are dead," the mechanic protested.

"Then what?" Jack looked around in frustration.

"Well Private," drawled the commander in amusement. "We just happen to have a revolutionary new recording system here that is virus proof!" The man pulled a yellow pencil and pad of paper out of his pocket.

Jack gave a short laugh and turned back to the flickering display.

"Now read kid," the commander ordered.

The young man ran through the systems as fast as was possible. Translating what he could, skipping what was too difficult. Despite the massive gaps this left a picture began to emerge and the human felt a ball of rage growing in his stomach. Starscream had been performing experiments on the sparklings from the moment they had climbed out of the Well of Allsparks. What exactly the seeker had been doing was impossible for the human to say, but it had stunted the little one's growth. While Jack talked at least three soldiers were taking notes as fast as they could.

Suddenly with a sputter and a cough the last of the energon drained out into the snow below the pod. The last lights died leaving the tent oddly quiet. Jack leaned back and sighed, stroking the sparkling's head.

"That's it," he called up. "There's nothing more I can do from here."

A sudden screeching filled the tent, emanating from the furnace. The mechanic examined the device the suddenly ripped of the control box.

"All the fancy electronics are going crazy," he growled. "I fix this good the old fashioned way."

"We'll upload this to both governments," the commander said shaking his head in amusement.

"No, you won't," Jack said quietly.

"Excuse me, Private Smith?" the commander growled, putting emphasis on his rank.

"There is no encryption on this planet that is safe for that data," the young man explained, staring firmly at the officer. "It is policy to send any data such as this hardcopy. If you broadcast that I can guarantee you we'll have a heap of trouble raining down on our heads in no time."

The officers conferred for a moment, then the commander reluctantly nodded. It made sense, but the implications were terrifying.

"You don't need to worry about the virus being airborne," a woman's voice suddenly grabbed their attention.

"Come again?" the commander asked as he helped Jack out of the pod.

"This is a milder variation of something called cosmic rust," Dr. Green explained, holding up a orange stained glove for them to see. "It is only spread through direct contact and breaks down quickly in the absence of sufficient quantities of the proper metals."

"I see, then our usual quarantine protocols will work. That's a relief," the commander said, "but it leaves us in a sticky situation here on the islands."

"I think I can help with that too," she replied, "as long as we can still broadcast a message."

Mrs. Darby carefully wrote out a concise message on a piece of paper she got from the commander. He took it and promised to send it from the American base which could still send and receive. A steady thrumming let them know that the mechanic had made good on his promise. The inside of the tent began to warm again.

"I think it is still too cold in here for them," Mrs. Darby said after awhile.

"The furnace will not make tent any more hot," the mechanic said apologetically.

"Do you think you could get me a bigger parka?" she asked," and another for Mr. Smith?"

"Ja, I will get you the biggest!" the mechanic promised with a smile.

"What do you want that for?" Jack asked once the man had ducked out of the tent.

"You'll see," his mother said with a smile, gently cradling the sparklings to her chest. "You'll see."

Soon the mechanic returned with two bulky parkas as promised. June quickly removed hers while the man held the grumbling sparklings. Jack had to bite his tongue when he saw the level of attention every man in the tent was paying his mother's figure. She reached out for the largest infant. It chirped happily as she took it in her arms and wrapped its long centipede like tail around her waist. Carefully she pulled the parka over them both and zipped it up. Jack grinned and carefully doffed his own parka. He took both of the smaller ones and the mechanic helped him secure the coat over them. Each of the sparklings eagerly clung to his ribcage. Jack sat down beside his mother to wait.

In due time the commander came back looking relieved.

"They say they are sending a currier out with the decontamination process. He'll be here in about two hours. But you two need to be gone by then. They want you on your way back to your base yesterday. Apparently your boss is eager to see the, sparklings, did you call them?"

"Yes I imagine the good Doctor would be eager," June said with a smile.

"But how will we be traveling?" Jack asked with a frown. "I thought all the machinery was breaking down."

"Ha! You Americans," Boris laughed. "So dependent on the machines. You are lucky we are here to save your tuckouses! Come you will meet Laika! She will get you home safe!"

Jack looked at his mother who only shrugged. Carefully holding onto their burdens they followed the Russian out into the snow.


	3. Racing Against Time

Dying Embers 3

A Transformers Prime FanFiction

Laika was very glad to meet them. For the second time that day Jack found himself flat on his back. The sparklings curiously poked their heads out of the parka to look at the massive husky/wolf hybrid. She left off washing the human's face to turn her mothering on the delighted infants. They squealed in delight as her long rough tongue scoured the light coating of rust from their round heads.

"You see? Laika will get you safely there!" Boris said proudly. The man seemed more relaxed than Jack had yet seen him.

Sixteen huskies were harnessed to a sled. Except for the long legged Laika they were all smaller than Jack had imagined they'd be. The sled was sparsely loaded and was itself a light contraption, it hardly looked capable of carrying them. Mrs. Darby was settled down on top of the few supplies and Jack carefully sat down in front of her. The sled driver had a short conversation with the two commanders then came over to the passengers.

"We head east across the sea ice once we are past the small island," he said curtly. "You will switch to relay team outside of Tin City. From there you stick to sea ice and follow coastline south-east until you reach shore south of Unalakleet. That is as much as I know."

"Thank you," June said, wriggling as the sparkling dug its myriad tiny legs into her ribcage.

"Why are we relaying so soon?" Jack asked curiously, reaching out to stroke the head of a curious husky who was nuzzling the smallest sparkling.

The man let out a short bark of laughter.

"These dogs are good dogs," he said, "good for sprint. They get us across ice faster than any machine can. Thirty, thirty-five kilometers per hour. No good for long haul."

"Oh," Jack said creatively as he shifted the two sparklings under his parka.

The small driver walked along the team, pulling them away from the passengers with some effort. Once they were lined out he stomped back to the sled. With a cry of mush the two Americans were thrown back against the seats as the pack tore off over the snow.

The first leg of the ride wasn't uncomfortable at all. The seats were well designed to support passengers. A feature the driver bragged about quite a bit. The base had provided both of them with ample clothing and chemical warming packs. The movement seemed to lull the sparklings to sleep because the stopped moving and snuggled into their humans with happy trills. The snow pack was hard and the dogs ran over it easily. Laika led off at a fierce pace and the rest of the team strived to keep up with her.

It was less than an hour later when they spotted the next team in the relay. A lanky figure in a National Park uniform cheerfully waved to them as their current musher stopped the sled several dozen feet from the other.

"Why are we stopping here?" Mrs. Darby asked in surprise as he assisted them up.

"You get up, walk to next sled," the man explained cheerfully. "Stay warm and limber!"

"Good idea," June said.

She and Jack walked briskly over to the new sled and shook hands with the woman waiting for them. She bundled them into the sled and the dogs went tearing off.

"Okay, here's the deal," she shouted as they blew over the ice. "I'm not supposed to know your names or ask questions." She paused and blinked in surprise when two blue optics peeked out of June's parka then disappeared. The woman shook her head and went on. "The rules apply to every team you meet. We were all told that you two are doing a scientific experiment. Most of your mushers will be government employees of one sort or another. But civilian trailbreaker teams are being sent ahead to find the fastest trails and make sure the ice is safe. We should have you to the Yukon in less than twelve hours. There you will meet someone with further instructions."

"Thank you," June said with a warm smile and a giggle, which the ranger dutifully ignored.

The sudden movement had woken the sparklings and the one she carried was shifting around curiously. Thousands of tiny feet tickled her as it adjusted its position.

"So how did you get all the civilian trailbreaker teams to participate if they don't know what's going on?" Jack asked.

"Easy," the ranger replied with a grin. "We say, 'Here's fifty bucks, go do what you love to do along a specific route for a few hours. We don't get many complaints."

As promised the dogs made good time, and the trail was smooth and hard ahead of them. It felt as if they were flying along some times. Their goggles protected them from the glare of the snow and ice when the sun shone weakly over the horizon at noon. But there was little to break the monotony of the trail. Jack soon found himself dozing off between changes, the long hours and stress catching up with him.

At one point a happy trilling woke him up. All three of the sparkling were awake and had poked their heads out of the parkas. Jack followed their gaze up, and nearly stopped breathing. His mind searched for something to compare what he was seeing to. It was a groundbridge, no, a space bridge, massive and powerful in the night sky above, swirling with red, green, blue, and pink. Smaller spirals surrounded the main one. There was no fear in the boy. Nothing evil could come out of something so beautiful. It was as if his very being was thrumming in tune to the lights above him.

"Amazing, isn't it?" a gruff voice called out; breaking the dreamlike state Jack was in.

Jack looked over his shoulder at their current musher in confusion. How did he know about space bridges?

"The Aurora," the man explained pointing up.

"What, oh yes, the Northern Lights," Jack said feeling a bit sheepish. Of course that's what they were. No one in this solar system had the kind of power it would take to make such a massive bridge. Still, he stared up at them in fascination. The human adjusted his parka so his two sparklings could enjoy the view and still stay warm. They appeared to be as fascinated by the spectacle as he was. Jack saw the display reflected in their optics, the cerulean blue capturing the spiral and shining it back to the heavens. The smaller one looked at the human and smiled in delight.

"Skyfire," Jack whispered softly, stroking the little ones head.

O

O

"And here you go! Solid river ice under the snow now," the musher called out as the sled pulled up to the base of a mountain.

He waved goodbye cheerfully as the two passengers carefully stumped across the slick ice to the next sled in the relay. The man shook his head. He knew he shouldn't be so curious but what were they carrying under those parkas?

The next team consisted of nineteen dogs, each larger than those they had seen before. When Jack asked about it he was told that more strength was needed to keep up the pace over hills and scrub. Like every other dog team this one seemed interested in the mysterious bundles the two humans carried. It took the musher a few moments to get them straightened out. The woman then handed the travelers a thermos of hot tea and warm cinnamon rolls. While Jack was gratefully eating his a small hand reached up and snatched a piece out of his mouth.

"Hey! That's not for you," Jack laughed.

The sparkling showed the bit of food to its sibling who tore off half. They mimicked the human's actions, shoving it into their mouths and beginning to work it over with their mandibles.

"Yuck!" Jack unbuttoned his parka a bit and tried to work the goop out of the infant's mouth, unsure what the carbohydrates would do to the Cybertronians' innards. "Ouch!" He exclaimed yanking his finger back, suddenly very glad for the extra protection the gloved offered. Skyfire's jaws were strong.

"Are you okay?" June called worriedly.

"I'm fine," Jack reassured her. "But do you think cinnamon rolls will do them any harm?"

Mrs. Darby let out a laugh and shook her head.

"A little bit shouldn't cause any problems," she reassured him. "And it is good to see them interacting. I was getting a bit worried because,"

The musher cleared her throat loudly and June snapped her mouth shut with a sheepish look. Jack sat back in the sled more than a little concerned. From what little he had learned from the decaying records on the pod Starscream had done some terrible things to the sparklings; things that might easily affect them for life; especially the virus. The human stroked the wriggling little ones, as much to reassure himself as to comfort them. He looked at the orange stain on his glove and a trickle of fear ran down his spine. The rust was getting worse. He cuddled the sparklings closer and crooned to them. There was nothing else he could do until they got back to base.

O

O

*So hereee wee areeeeee, in the Tijuana jaiiilllllll,* the voices of the Kingston trio wailed out over the frozen tundra.

A young man in a parka paced beside a gunmetal grey semi attached to a nondescript trailer. The hood had fallen back to reveal long dark hair and a dark native face. He shot an annoyed look up at the cab and gave a quick kick at one of the chain wrapped tires. The music roared out louder in response.

"Will you stuff it?" the human growled.

The music increased in volume yet again.

"Hey, I didn't want to be here anymore than you do," the young man huffed. "Do you think I wanted to give up a December trip to Mexico to ride an ice road? I was looking forward to seeing Lola too."

The music died and a snort came from the engine compartment. The mighty diesel growled to life and began releasing warm air out of its smokestacks.

"Look we owe Johnson for last summer. We'd have never gotten you rebuilt so fast if he hadn't been pulling strings. The least we can do is help him out when he needs some cargo transported."

A low growl emanated under the sound of the engine.

"I'm sorry you had to fly out here but speed, Ouch!" the human rubbed his posterior where the black tie strap had snapped it.

"I know all that," a deep voice snarled. "I know I'm the only one capable of performing the task assigned. I let them drag me off the ground in that evil contraption. I am here. I WILL do what needs to be done. Just don't expect me to be pleasant about it."

"Fair enough," the human muttered leaning up against the cab.

"Hey, do you hear that?" the semi suddenly killed its engine.

The young man perked up and tilted his head to one side, surprised by the sudden change in his brother's tone.

"A dog team," the human murmured.

"No duh, but listen," there was an odd urgency in the deep voice. "The bitches are singing the birth song."

"So they are," the young man said. "Huh, did they haul us out here for an emergency medical run?"

"Why us? Why not a plane or a copter?" the truck rumbled. "The weather is good for both."

"Maybe a Clan member who can't fly? Well, we'll find out soon enough."

The human heard the sound of his companion sniffing the air. The wind was in the right direction so he should be able to get a clear scent.

"Smithy!" the deep voice called out suddenly.

"What?"

"It's Smith," the truck said happily, "and he has some of his special friends with him."

"Well, I'll be stumped," they young man said softly.

O

O

The final leg of the dog sled relay was short. The team pulled up to the edge of the Yukon River and the musher helped the tired travelers to their feet. June said thanks for the last time and they walked down the indicated path to the riverbed below. Jack frowned at the scene awaiting them.

"But the virus will eat right through that truck," he said eyeing the grey machine as they approached.

"Maybe Ratchet was able to fit them with a containment unit in the trailer," his mother suggested.

"Maybe," he agreed reluctantly. There was something familiar about the rig, something he couldn't quite put his finger on, until the figure came bounding up the bank to greet him with a shout and a crushing bear hug.

"Smithy!" The other young man started when he felt something move under the bulky parka.

"Zech!" Jack replied happily. "Sal! Heya! You look great."

"Get over here you sissy Cheechako," the deep voice rumbled happily from the engine. "Let me look at you."

"Uh Dr. Green this is…"

"Huh? You don't share your mother's name? Why not?" the truck asked bluntly.

Mrs. Darby shot Jack a sharp look.

"Sal!" Zech exclaimed in embarrassment.

"Cover story," Jack explained with a laugh. "How'd you know?"

"I just know these things," the semi said dismissively. "Scent mostly. Throw whatever that top secret cargo is in the back and let's get this show on the ice. I actually think the chopper ride was worth it! This trip is so going to ro….." It suddenly grew very quiet. Zech held his breath.

"Chirup?"

Jack unsuccessfully tried to push the curious head back down into his parka.

"Ah, forgive me if I'm wrong," the semi began in a tightly controlled voice. "But is that an infant of Red Warrior's species?"

Jack shot Zech a desperate look, remembering Sal's reaction to Optimus. June stared evenly at the truck.

"And if it is?"

With a hiss of hydraulics the landing gear descended and the trailer unhitched from the semi.

"Then there is no way I am taking them up the Yukon in this trailer," growled the rig in disgust. "Whose idea was that?"

Zech spun around with a furious gleam in his eye that nearly matched that in the woman's.

"Now climb up in my cab where I can keep them warm," continued the deep voice. "Honestly, hauling children like cargo? What would Ma say?"

Zech shot Jack a sheepish grin, relieved that he had misunderstood his brother, and offered Mrs. Darby a hand up. The woman smiled sadly and shook her head.

"I appreciate the sentiment, ah?"

"Oh, where are my manners?" Zech said in embarrassment. "Dr. Green I'm Zechariah Franklin, this here is my brother Salcha Franklin. Sal to our friends."

"Sal, but these children are carrying an extremely dangerous metal eating virus that needs to be contained. If we ride up front with you, you will be in grave danger, not to mention we won't get very far before you break down." There were a thousand questions racing around the nurse's head but her training and mother instincts were focused on one thing at the moment; getting the sparklings to the safety of the base and Ratchet's care.

"Ah, so you don't know who I am?" Sal asked more than a little smugly.

"Until five minutes ago we had no idea who we were supposed to meet here," Jack said absently, shuffling through a stack of paper Zech had handed him. "Mom, here. These are the instructions from the Doctor."

She took them and began reading through the list. A frown formed on her face.

"Hey," Sal said, a bit put off by the lack of attention he was receiving. He pulled around to the back of the trailer and reached out with a black tie strap to open the door. "I would just like to point out that I am not made of metal. This is just a body I use, and I am perfectly capable of protecting it from the axel to the smallest circuit. So there is no need to stuff the little ones into this."

The semi disdainfully pulled a container out of the trailer, along with a small Cybertronian generator.

"That's a refrigeration unit," Jack said with a frown eyeing the windowless box and protectively clutching the sparklings closer to him.

"Yes it is," June murmured quickly scanning the sparse instructions. "The Doctor thinks the cold may slow down the virus's progression. He says the best course of action will be to keep them at -40 degrees where they should go into a physical dormancy state, and set the force field up around them. That might contain the virus."

"But?" Jack asked hearing the hesitancy in her voice. He had bent over to examine the force field generator.

"But I am to analyze the situation and use my best judgment," June said heavily. "I agree with Sal that it would not be good to isolate them."

She stroked the sparkling coiled around her waist and realized it was trembling. She automatically adjusted the parka around it but realized its gaze was turned on the looming semi. The woman frowned. It was afraid of the truck?

"How is the virus spread?" Zech asked, "If I'm allowed to know?"

"Physical contact," June said still mulling over the problem.

"How about this?" Jack suddenly suggested. "This is a class zeta seven force field; it is specially tuned to only work on mechano-viruses. We put the force field up on the inside of Sal's cab."

"Sounds good to me!" the semi called out cheerfully, pitching the refrigeration unit carelessly back into the trailed and locking the door.

"You do realize that this is a great risk," Nurse Darby looked straight at the truck. "If you become infected there is no telling what the virus will do to you. Even the effects on the species it was designed for are still theoretical."

The semi rolled within inches of the unflinching woman. The hood lifted fractionally and a long black tentacle reached out to touch the trembling sparkling. The little one let out a wail as the appendage approached and tightened its grip on June until she grunted softly in pain; but as the thick coil gently stroked the round head the little one stopped trembling and un-shuttered its optics to peer curiously up at the truck.

"Cheep?" it queried softly.

"Who taught the little one fear?" the voice asked. Though the tone was quiet June heard outrage and danger in it.

"His name would have no meaning to you," she said calmly. "Know that he is an outcast among his own kind and a fugitive everywhere he goes on this world."

"The pain this little one is feeling, it is great. Is that a 'theoretical' symptom? We need to get them to a proper facility and fast. I can do that better running bobtail than hauling a trailer. As for the risk," Salcha said quietly, "Let me worry about that. I fear neither death nor quarantine." The coil disappeared into the engine compartment and a deliberate smacking sound rang out. "And besides this virus doesn't taste dangerous."

June blinked and opened her mouth, then smiled and shook her head.

"Smith, set up the force field and let's get on the road," she called out.

Her son got to his feet. Zech opened his parka and Jack handed over the larger of the bipeds. Soon the generator was humming away and they were settled into the cab. June examined the sparklings closely in the interior light. They were covered in an orange crust. Carefully the three humans rubbed the little ones down until they shone silver again. Zech produced a drop cloth and an industrial strength biohazard box for disposing the tainted rags.

"Did the feds give you that for the trip?" June asked curiously.

"Nope, we always keep one handy," Zech replied cheerfully never taking his eyes off the sparkling he was gently stroking.

The nurse raised her eyebrows. Those containers cost nearly a grand apiece. The hospital she worked for only kept one in stock. She looked at the two young men, working perfectly together as if they'd know each other for years. There was more than one mystery here she decided, but as she ran over the massive amount of classified information she already had to juggle in her life the woman was more than content to leave them mysteries.

Once she was content with the cleaning job Sal lowered the temperature to just below freezing. The sparklings protested and tried to crawl back under the parkas but the nurse was firm. The Cybertronians wouldn't freeze at that temperature, neither would the humans in the parkas, and it would slow the virus. The three chirped sadly for a bit and then curled up one to a lap and shuttered tired optics.


	4. Life Skils

Dying Embers 4

A Transformers Prime FanFiction

"So what are their names?" Zechariah Franklin leaned over the sparkling smiling warmly. The little one crooned happily up at him and snuggled deeper into his lap.

"I don't think they have names yet," Jack answered between chews. He was giving the majority of his attention to getting a burrito into his mouth while keeping it out of the mouth of the sparkling on his lap. "The only thing I saw in their records was the specimen numbers Starscream had given them."

"Nonsense, their parents had to have given them names," Zech protested.

"I don't think they have parents exactly," Jack said glancing curiously at his mother. "But Mom would know more about that than me."

"No parents?" Sal asked interested.

The semi swerved suddenly and threw the passengers against their harnesses. Shouting the humans wrapped their arms around the sparklings who chattered happily at the excitement.

"Pay attention to the river Sal!" Zech groused, wiping the remains of Jack's burrito out of his hair the best he could.

"I am," the big rig protested. "You try keeping it smooth at sixty five miles per hour on the ice."

"Ah, about that Salcha," June smiled a bit nervously. "I have been meaning to ask you. I thought the speed limit for ice road trucks was twenty-two miles per hour. We're easily going three times that," she said glancing nervously at the oscillating speedometer needle.

"Oh, yeah that," Sal said absently. "Zech…"

They were approaching a sharp turn. The semi began to shift. June let a small sigh of relief escape her, thinking he was downshifting to slow down. She knew very little about the complex shifting process for such a machine, but when Sal gleefully shouted 'Corners!' a few seconds later she was pretty sure he had everything in neutral. June let out a small shriek as the steering wheel spun and the semi went up on five wheels. Just as it felt it certain they were going to flip Sal snapped out a silver tie strap. It wrapped around the base of a gnarly old spruce. The truck's momentum slingshotted them around the tight corner. The woman's stomach lurched as the rocky bank filled the windshield. At the last moment a tie on the other side of the rig caught hold of a boulder and they went tearing around in the opposite direction. Five curves later the sparklings were squealing happily, Jack and Zech were shouting in glee, and June was sitting stiffly in her harness with lips pursed together.

"So, yes, Zech please explain that to the good Doctor," Sal said, accelerating into a straight stretch.

"The speed limit is to protect the integrity of the ice roads," the young man said cheerfully.

Jack was still catching his breath and rearranging the happy sparkling in its harness, but he listened intently.

"A semi passing over the ice leaves a disturbance, cracks, fissures, that sort of weakness like a boat wake on the water. The depth and danger of that disturbance is in direct proportion to the speed the truck is traveling at. The optimum speed for safety and efficiency is twenty-two miles per hour. It is unfair to following trucks and unsafe in general to go faster. But the Yukon is not a heavily trafficked river. Sal is probably the only semi who will be on it this winter. So the ice will have a chance to heal. Also, he has a sense of balance that no human driven rig can approach, and an ability to read the ice as well."

A crack like a cannon shot echoed behind them, causing the humans to jump and the sparklings to whimper.

"See," Sal called out cheerfully, "I knew that patch was thin so I got over it quick."

Zech smiled reassuringly at June. The woman gave him a hard look but held her tongue. She was out of her element here and knew it.

"So anyway, if they don't have names or parents to name them," Zech continued the previous conversation, "does that mean you get to?"

"No," Jack said, shaking his head, "That is really Red Warrior's right. Not ours."

But the human smiled down at the one he thought of as Skyfire. He glanced over at the one in his mother's lap. Its long shining tail flicked out lazily.

'Cometflare,' popped into his mind, almost as if it had been spoken. He smiled again and looked at the one Zech was busy cuddling but no name suggested itself at the moment. The little one managed to grab hold of the long black ponytail hanging over the man's shoulder. Zech grinned and reached down into a pouch to produce a flashlight and waved it in front of the sparkling's optics. The twin blubs flashed a dim red and the little one released the hair with a wail of terror.

"Hush, hush sweet one," Zech crooned as he shoved the flashlight back into pouch in confusion. All three sparklings were whimpering now.

"Do they not like red light?" the trucker asked.

"No I don't imagine they would," June replied, thinking of Ariachnid's glowing red optics, the same color for all Cons. "We should have thought of that."

"You are good with children," the woman commented suddenly smiling at Zech who had not only succeeded in calming down the sparkling but had it laughing again. The young man shrugged and smiled awkwardly.

"Well with seven younger siblings I ought to be," he replied.

"You have a big family," Jack said in surprise.

"Yep, three bio, three adopted, and Sal here."

June glanced at the clock on the dash and shifted in her seat.

"Sal," she called out.

"Time for a feeding break," he responded.

The semi carefully downshifted, using the resistance of its mighty engine to gracefully slow to a stop. The humans unbuckled and Jack handed his sparkling over to Zech, then carefully scooped up the one June had been holding. The trucker began to sing an old native lullaby and Sal picked up the harmony. June carefully pulled a glowing syringe of energon out of her parka and sterilized the needle. The sparkling in Jack's lap began to whimper and shiver. He hummed to it and gently pulled its head against the thick wolf fur of his parka. With the utmost patience the nurse pulled the little arm out and triggered the energon valve at the wrist. The little servos twitched in pain as the carefully measured amount of energon flowed into the sparkling's veins.

June let out a relieved sigh and gently released its arm, wondering if she was doing something wrong for what seemed like the hundredth time. Jack smiled and swapped Cometflare for Skyfire. Zech kept up the singing and the younger man took a moment to marvel at the depth and power of his voice.

"At least they're getting used to it now," the mother murmured thankfully, preparing the next dose of the energon Ratchet had provided.

They had followed the instructions to the letter for the feeding. The sparkling's low energon levels had been a major part of the reason Mrs. Darby had hesitated to put them into cold induced stasis. But instead of welcoming the life giving substance they had started screaming at the sight of the syringe. It had taken nearly an hour of shuffling before the humans discovered the sparklings would only stay calm enough to take the energon if Jack was holding them. The music helped as well.

Salcha had kept his counsel to himself, but made a mental note. If he ever found the one responsible for the state of these children he would give the voidwalker a personal lesson in why humanity feared the dark.

With all three fed and soothed Sal revved his engines and roared off down the dark river. June took the trucker's advice and handed her sparkling over to Jack. On a straight stretch she lay down and strapped into the bunk. Despite, or perhaps because of the movement of the truck she soon fell asleep.

The shock of an impact woke the nurse. She struggled against the straps that held her for a moment before Zech's soothing voice calmed her. From the angle she was at the woman could just see something moving on the hood of the truck.

"Sal just grabbed a quick snack," the trucker assured her, but there was annoyance in his voice. "I thought we would be able to get through on our fuel reserves but we seem to be burning through them faster than we anticipated. This solves that problem but now I get to clean moose out of the grill. Great."

June didn't fully process the information and fell right back asleep. Jack however sat up, now thoroughly awake, for several hours watching the semi cleanly devour the small moose and spit out it's bones one at a time. At least the truck had to slow down while it ate, Jack mused, making the ride that much smoother for his sleeping mother.

O

O

The next forty-eight hours passed in a blur of motion. The humans talked and cared for the sparklings while Salcha navigated the ever narrowing Yukon. While he could accelerate to sixty-five miles per hour on the straight stretches; the many curves, animals on the river, and his own growing need to eat slowed him down.

During one stop to let the humans use the local shrubbery Zech waited until Mrs. Darby was out of the cab and pounced on the semi.

"How bad is the virus Sal?"

Jack started at the question but the big rig didn't even try to deny it.

"Not too bad," Salcha calmly explained. "It doesn't even affect my flesh body and I am excreting something that protects my metal and synthetic bits. The tires are the real drain. I have to constantly keep applying the excretion because the snow and ice wears it off."

"That's why you need to slow down for food so often," Jack said in understanding.

"Yeah, I don't want to waste the fuel for that," the semi said. "Oh and by the way, don't tell your mom about this."

"Okay, but why?" Jack asked in surprise.

"She has enough on her plate without worrying about me," Sal said, "but also," he hesitated.

"Any information about Sal is on a need to know basis for anyone who has contact with the voidwalkers," Zech finished for him.

"Okay I get that," Jack said with a frown, "but then why tell me?"

"We figure it's best if one of you knows just in case," Sal said, "and since you already know more than her you were the logical choice. But yeah, mostly we don't want her to worry."

Skyfire suddenly let out a whimper from Jack's lap.

"Worry more," the semi gently corrected himself as he reached out to stroke the little one with a tentacle.

O

O

"Pavement!" Mrs. Darby called out joyfully as the gunmetal grey semi rolled onto the highway just north of the township of Nenana.

"Oh joy," Sal muttered as they rolled along.

"Why aren't you happy?" the woman asked in surprise.

"Would you like the list?" the semi asked a bit sarcastically.

"Fire away," June replied unperturbed.

"There will be cars to dodge while at least on the river we were free of that, we'll have to have a military escort once we hit the outskirts of Fairbanks, I won't be able to snack on anything bigger than what Zech can throw down the shute," he jiggled the snack flap for demonstration. "Zech has to pretend to drive now and can't help with the kids, so they will be suffering more, and all the traffic lights, security cameras, and i-junk out there means our chances of being spotted and attacked by the Cons rise every moment we're on pavement. That makes my job way harder."

"Ah," the nurse murmured, but the semi could see that all her attention was on the sparkling in her arms. Being an older brother six times over he knew better than to compete for sympathy with an injured infant. Salcha Franklin turned his attention to the road ahead of him and accelerated into the darkness.


	5. Home Again

Dying Embers 5

A Transformers Prime FanFiction

Zechariah Franklin sat in the snack bar of Red Chief's Classic Car Wash sipping a hot tea. There were currently no other customers at the round tables. The young man leaned back in his seat and stared out the bay windows across the desert landscape. Low grey clouds hung over the surrounding bluffs.

"Where's your partner?" a concerned voice asked.

Zech started in his chair and glanced up at the figure in bib overalls. The old man bore a resemblance to the younger, right up to wearing his rusty hair in the same long pony tail. A battered baseball cap reading USMarines sat on his head.

"Oh hi Uncle John," the trucker said with a smile. "Sal's finishing a delivery run."

"Without you?" the man's eyebrows climbed his wrinkled forehead.

Zech sat silently for a moment, carefully weighing his words, deciding how much he should tell his friend and distant cousin.

"The circumstances were special," he finally said heavily. "My presence wasn't needed to finish the run. Someone will be returning Sal shortly."

The old man looked searchingly at the trucker. Something odd was going on, but of greater concern to the old marine the young man was suffering.

"Something's eating you kid," he finally said with a probing look.

"A friend of mine just found out he's responsible for the care of three very ill little children," Zech replied honestly.

"That's harsh," the old man said sympathetically as he sat down across from Zech. "How are the little ankle biters doing?"

"No one came out and said it," Zech said softly.

Big John nodded in understanding. He stood and companionably dropped an arm across the younger man's shoulders. Rain washed over the Nevada landscape as they waited.

O

O

A gunmetal grey semi rolled down the cracked asphalt towards a high butte. Wild desert winds whipped torrential rains across the highway, but the truck ignored them. It rolled gracefully to a stop where the highway ended. A device on top of the rig began emitting a pale blue light. The light coalesced into a beam and swept over the truck. Outside nothing changed.

Inside the rig chaos erupted. Skyfire and Cometflare clung to Jack and whimpered in pain. The third sparkling began emitting a high pitched wail. June did her best to sooth the little one but it only thrashed harder.

"Give her to Jack," Sal rumbled over the noise.

"What?" June asked distractedly.

"I think he can comfort her," Sal said. "Look at the others. This thing Agent Fowler left us at the car wash might be necessary but it's hurting them. They are clearly in pain but the two who are touching Jack are handling it. I can sense these things Dr. Green, being near him lessens their suffering, and we have another fifteen minutes to go before the decontamination is over. Hurry and hand her over."

June looked at her son. There were bags under his eyes and he was covered in bruises where the Cybertronians had pinched him. She was sure he hadn't slept in days. But there was something in his eyes, something that made her catch her breath. He had accepted responsibility for these lives. With a smile she handed him the final infant. It quieted immediately as Jack made room between its siblings.

"Sal, a question," June said as she watched her son calm the frightened sparkling. "You said her just now?"

"Hmmm, I did?" the semi replied absently. He was attempting to rock back and forth so the decon light could get at all his many moving parts, while at the same time using his tie straps to help Jack balance the little ones.

"Yes you did," June said with a smile.

"Oh, I guess she just feels like a girl," the big rig mused reaching out a tentacle to stroke her head. "Hey, the rain's stopping."

Sure enough the downpour stopped. A brilliant ray of sunshine burst through the clouds and shone through the windshield. The golden beam fell on the sparklings. Skyfire and Cometflare buried their faces in Jack's chest but the third fearlessly turned to face the light. Jack watched with her as the clouds were driven away by the burning Nevada sun. Even through the pain the human could see the curiosity in the little face.

"Stormbreaker," he whispered.

June smiled tiredly.

"Okay, all done with the decon," Sal called cheerfully, thinner tentacles shuffling through the detailed instructions the currier had left with the device. "Now we just roll on in. Through the door I. Still. Can't. See."

"Oh come on, Salcha," June said with a smile. "It's just like a garage door. It opens as you approach."

"Right. I trust you. This will be fine," the big rig said firmly.

"You don't go out on your own much, do you?" Jack asked with a smile.

"Two hours ago marked the longest time in my life that I haven't had Pa, Ma, or Zech with me," Sal confessed as he gingerly rolled off the highway.

Sure enough the cliff wall opened to reveal a wide passageway. Sal jumped a little when it closed behind him. As the semi slowly rolled down the tunnel he realized with a start that he was afraid. Possessing the body of a big rig he was nearly always the most powerful figure in his environment. Although he had been exposed to larger and more powerful beings than himself before they had always been Clan members, usually close friends of his parents. Now it was suddenly crystal clear to him that he was rolling into a situation where there were no doubt several beings who were completely alien to him and just as large if not larger. The only one of whom he could even remotely claim to know he had been less than cordial to at their last meeting. Rolling toward them without Ma or Pa or Zech or…

Weak trilling drew his attention back to the inside of the cab. The one Smith had called Stormbreaker was slumped against her larger brother in exhaustion. Sal felt his hearts quicken painfully at the suffering in the little one's eyes. He deliberately up-shifted and rolled into the silo.

"What is that?" Jack asked in confusion, looking outside the window for the first time.

The entire corridor was encased in translucent plastic, bulging inward as if pushed by some unseen force.

"That is the negative pressure containment Ratchet mentioned in the notes," June explained.

"So I just keep driving?" Sal asked, she could hear the nervousness in his voice.

"Yes," the nurse replied, retaking Stormbreaker. "Ratchet set up a containment unit in one of the back rooms. You'll know it when you see it."

The semi drove resolutely on. At one point he thought he saw something big moving on the other side of the plastic tube, but it was too blurry to tell. They rolled into a room completely encased in the material. Various machinery were set up around the interior all sealed in the plastic; a walk-in freezer, two bed, a massive electric power generator, several cubes of the blue fluid the sparklings needed, and a host of other stuff the big rig couldn't even begin to identify.

He opened his doors and gently scooped up the infants in his tie straps. Smithy and Dr. Green stiffly climbed out of his cab and showed him where to place them. Gently the big rig set the sparklings down in three separate berths. They immediately began to wail in protest. Smith and his mother moved to comfort them. The semi reached back into his cab and deposited the biohazard box on the cave floor for proper disposal.

"Dr. Green," Sal called out lifting his hood. "Come here for a moment. Bring a sharp knife and some kind of specimen container."

June nodded to Jack and walked over pulling out a sturdy pocket knife. A thick brown tentacle was slowly rising out of the engine compartment. About eight inches from its jagged end a grapefruit sized bulge pulsed.

"Salcha," the nurse exclaimed, "are you okay?"

"Oh yeah," the rig said smugly. "Remember that excretion I told you about?"

"The one that protected you from the virus?" Jack asked a bit confused.

"Yep. Well I finally figured out how to generate a lot and concentrate it. I don't know if this will be of any use to the kids but it's worth a shot. Just stick that poker in and drain out the lot. Hurry too, maintaining this concentration is difficult"

June blinked in surprise and spun to snatch up one of the specimen containers Ratchet had left with the supplies.

"Are you sure," she began as she approached him again.

Sal let out a dramatic sigh as he lowered the sack for her to reach.

"No; I don't need a pain killer. Because; I don't feel pain the same way you humans do. So please just do it."

The nurse pulled on a pair of gloves and made a quick incision in the sack. She held the clear canister under the tentacle as a thick amber liquid dripped into it.

"Squeeze as much as you can out of it," Sal instructed. "Don't worry about hurting me."

Mrs. Darby did as instructed. When Sal declared the end of the supply she snapped the lid on the nearly full canister.

"Yeah, so I'll just be on my way," Sal said awkwardly, rolling backwards.

"Salcha Franklin," the woman suddenly looked up at him and smiled. "Thank you, thank you for everything."

Smith smiled and nodded his agreement but he was already balancing two sparklings.

"You're welcome Dr. Green," Sal said sincerely.

"Hey Sal, one question," Jack asked as the semi turned to leave.

"Anything."

"I've been meaning to ask you this the entire trip. When you found out what Red Warrior was you nearly had an aneurism, but you accepted them immediately," Jack sad gesturing around at the little ones. "Why did you not have any trouble with the sparklings like you had with Red Warrior?"

The semi let out a snort and a laugh.

"Oh come on, that's completely different," Sal scoffed. "They're CHILDREN." With that, the big rig rolled out of the room.

The containment bubble sealed itself behind him and the mother and son found themselves alone together.

"He said that like it explained everything," Jack said in confusion.

"Perhaps to him it did," his mother replied.

O

O

Salcha stopped at the entrance of the butte as ordered and let a far more intense light wash over him. Even he felt the sting of it this time. When it was over a familiar human strolled up to him.

"Agent Fowler!" Sal called out, happy to not be alone. He popped open his driver's door and the agent climbed in.

"Salcha Franklin," the human said formally.

"You look beat eagle," Sal said sympathetically. "Here let me adjust the temperature, how do you like it? Windows down or up?"

The human blinked and then smiled in surprise.

"Oh I'm good," he assured the semi with a yawn. "I've just got a pile of confidentiality agreements you and Zech need to sign. Stuff like that. Also I've been authorized to update you on the data collected so far on the virus."

"So shoot," Sal said absently. He was carefully reading through the government forms before he signed them. Ma Franklin hadn't raised any idiots.

"The ultimate damage to the infrastructure around the impact sight was far less than we anticipated from the Doctor's projections. It appears that the viability of the mechanovirus," the monologue was interrupted as a huge yawn split the agent's face and Sal let out a dramatic sigh.

"Mr. Fowler? How about we pretend that I'm a trucker, not a xenobiologist and skip the big words and long speeches? Just tell me if the bug is any danger to all those towns we passed through please."

The agent smiled and nodded.

"Short answer; no," he said relaxing back into the seat. "The virus doesn't look to be able to sustain itself without a viable host for reproduction and it breaks down within hours. The original landing site was almost clear of the bug even before we dropped the sterilizers in. And there has been no sign of it at all along your route," Fowler smothered another yawn. "Of course we'll keep lurching, I mean searching for containments, er contaminants, but it looks like the situation…"

Sal surreptitiously raised the temperature of the seats and air and positioned the seatbelts for optimum comfort. He tuned the radio to a soft music channel and watched in satisfaction as the human slipped off to sleep. Silly creatures needed so much care, he mused with a smug sigh. How did they ever hope to survive on their own?

O

O

Zech jumped up from the table when Sal pulled into the parking lot. Uncle John was with a customer so the young man trotted over to the big rig alone. He glanced in surprise at the sleeping agent in the driver's seat. Granted he hadn't gotten a real good look at the fed the last time but Fowler looked awful.

"Man, I'd hate to have that guy's job," the trucker muttered as he accepted the paperwork Sal handed him.

"Yeah, anyway everything seems legit to me. Just the usual bureaucratic hush up," the semi said softly.

Zech carefully examined the paperwork and signed on all the necessary lines while Sal quietly filled him in on the news Fowler had given him. When he was done the young man organized it and gently shook Fowler awake.

"I'm not sleeping Grandma!" the agent shouted, "just checking my eyelids for holes!"

"Right," Zech said raising his eyebrows in amusement.

"Oh, I must have dozed off," the agent said stretching. "How long was I out?"

"Long enough for us to get all the paperwork signed," Sal answered helpfully.

"Great," yawned Fowler, accepting the packet. "You know I could get used to working with you two."

"HA!" the semi snorted. "Don't think I'm this nice all the time. I'm just doing it for the kids."

"Well, whatever, thank you," Fowler gave one more yawn and reached to get out of the truck. To his surprise the door refused to open.

"Mr. Franklin?" he asked looking at the dash board.

"Agent Fowler," Sal began hesitantly. "Um, look I have one more question. It's about the, you know the base?"

"Yes?"

"Why didn't Red Warrior say hi? I mean did I really offend him that badly? Last time I know I was a complete jerk but I did apologize," the semi trailed off.

Fowler let out a sigh and shook his head.

"It's not like you think Franklin. Red Warrior simply wasn't there," the agent said. "I'm sure he would have been pleased to see you if he was."

"He's in danger?" Sal exclaimed frantically, reading the fear in the man's eyes.

"That's classified," the man said softly, but the other two could see the worry in his face.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Sal asked nervously.

"Yes Franklin, there is," Fowler suddenly rested a hand on the steering wheel. "You just go on trucking. Be a productive citizen. Keep our infrastructures flowing with goods. Be that happy face we soldiers imagine when we ask ourselves why we do this day in day out. Because right now Red Warrior needs that, we all need that."

With that final word Fowler jumped down to the pavement and strode over to his waiting car. Zech watched him splash through the rapidly drying puddles thoughtfully.

"You know what Bro?" Sal finally asked.

"What?"

"I hate being the homefront."

"Come on Sal," Zech said with a sad smile, "let's get you into a bay and wash that orange gunk off of you. Uncle John needs a load of show cars delivered to Ensenada."


	6. Responsibility

Dying Embers 6

Responsibility

A Transformers Prime FanFiction

"This is simply unbelievable," Ratchet whispered in awe.

The medic was staring in fascination at a secondary screen. It displayed the containment room. Jack was sitting cross-legged on the floor with the smallest sparkling in his lap. Her servos were wrapped around his hands and they were both smiling widely at the other two sparklings who were seriously examining a ball Jack had made for them out of several green wool socks. Both he and June were wearing cameos now. The clothes they had arrived in and the rags in the biohazard box had been incinerated to minimize the amount of pathogen in the containment room.

"Well there they are," June replied from another screen. She was busily running her scanner over the infant in Jack's lap.

"Please do not misunderstand me June," Ratchet said. "It is not that I doubted your word. But until I saw it with my own eyes I could not truly believe that there were living sparklings. It has been so very long. After Bumblebee reached maturity I never thought I'd see another."

"Have you had a chance to go over the data that Jack transcribed?" June asked.

"Ah, yes, about that," the medibot said. "I need to speak to Jack about that in detail later. It was interesting but very fragmentary, and no doubt the fragments Jack was able to salvage lost something in the translation."

"There," June said suddenly. "That's the last of the scans."

Ratchet straightened and studied the main screen intently. He ran through all the results quickly once then focused in on a few critical points.

"Mhhmmm, it appears as if your primary diagnosis was indeed correct, Nurse Darby," he said without taking his optics off the screen.

The woman felt her stomach clench at the tone he used but kept her face calm.

"It is a variation of the Decepticon bioweapon known as cosmic rust," the medic continued, "a far milder version; less aggressive and slower acting. Containing it should not be a problem."

June and Ratchet spent some time discussing the source of the infection, various treatment options, and how long she and Jack would need to stay in the containment room. There was something left unsaid under the flow of the conversation. The nurse's instincts steered her away from pressing the doctor about it, but the words left unspoken burned between them like fire. It came as a great relief when an alarm interrupted the discussion.

"Fowler is approaching," the medic said. "Please begin the treatment while I deal with him."

Nurse Darby nodded and moved over to the equipment. She carefully measured out a syringe of energon mixed with various minerals. One by one she injected the solution into the sparklings while Jack held them. They writhed in pain as the solution flowed through their systems, and the young man crooned soothingly to each one until the spasms stilled. Jack wondered if Arcee would have any idea on how to calm them down faster.

"Hey Mom?" Jack suddenly looked up with a frown creasing his face. "Where is everybody?"

O

O

"Ratchet ," Fowler walked slowly into the silo. "What's the situation?"

"The same as it was the last time you asked Agent Fowler," the medic snapped as he pulled up the display.

Four blue life signs shone on the map.

"They are still trapped in the canyon system with Decepticons on every side. The groundbridge signal is still blocked. I can barely keep track of their positions and punch through a comm. signal every so often, and there is no reason to expect the situation to change anytime soon." Ratchet indicated the main screen. "Is that what you needed to know?"

"Yes that about covers it," the agent said quietly. "How are the sparklings doing?"

"Nurse Darby is currently administering the first round of treatment as we speak," the medic replied. "How they respond is yet to be determined."

"Now that you've had a chance to examine them closely can you tell me if there is any threat of the virus mutating, escaping, and endangering our cities?"

The red and white Autobot looked blankly down at the human. It was only natural for the man to be concerned for the safety of his people. Ratchet let out a painful sigh, a habit he'd picked up from the humans, it would be wrong to hold his priorities against him.

"No, Agent Fowler, there is almost no chance that this virus will have any affect outside of the three sparklings."

"That's good," the human said quickly glancing at his watch. "I need to relay that information to my superiors."

"You know where the radio is," Ratchet said curtly and turned back to the sparkling's monitor.

"Nurse Darby how are they responding to the solution?"

Fowler watched the exchange for a moment, then quickly moved to the radio. He dialed a specific frequency and spoke softly. The soldier on the other end accepted a message he didn't understand and passed it on to the intended recipient.

O

O

On a bluff overlooking a deceptively peaceful valley three men sat watching a distant red beacon on a radio tower. Their haircuts, fit forms, and rigid posture declared them soldiers but they worn no trappings of any military. The same mud and slime that filled the valley around them covered their bodies, making them nearly invisible. The light on the tower blinked in a specific pattern and the leader of the men men silently picked up a heavy cloth bag and all slid into the shadows.

O

O

"Hey Ratchet come take a look at this," Fowler called out across the silo.

The medic left his conversation with the nurse and strode over to where the man was indicating a blinking red light on the main computer.

"That is the power relay indicator for the groundbridge," the Autobot snapped. "It is merely indicating the system is running a basic maintenance scan."

"Are you sure?" the agent asked, glancing nervously at his watch.

Ratchet let out an exasperated exclamation and turned away from the human, only to spin right back around when an alarm began to blare. Swiftly he entered a set of groundbridge coordinates.

"Optimus, I have your position clear," he shouted into the comm. "The interference has cleared and I am activating the groundbridge now."

The green portal swirled to life and three weary figures staggered through. Bulkhead was in the center with Arcee and Bumblebee on each side. It was difficult to tell who was supporting whom. Behind them Optimus was covering the rear weapons still on line. As soon as he was clear Ratchet closed the bridge and began preliminary medical analysis. When he thought to look up the special agent had disappeared.

O

O

"Sparklings! Real live sparklings?" Bulkhead whispered optics glowing.

"What's a sparkling?" Miko demanded from his shoulder.

"It's a baby Autobot," Raf informed her from where he sat in Bee's lap.

"Correct Rafael. A sparkling," Ratchet said with a smile at the precocious girl, "is an infant Cybertronian. One that has just recently crawled out of the well of all sparks."

Miko blinked up at the medibot a bit nervously. She had never seen a look that, happy, on the stoic Autobot's faceplates, had never seen him this patient. It was a little creepy. The Autobots were crowded around the monitor staring in fascination at the resting sparklings.

*But how is this possible Ratchet?* Bumblebee asked. *I thought you told me that my generation was the last of the sparklings.*

"Indeed Bumblebee, you were," Optimus's deep voice resonated through the silo. "From what data our human friends were able to collect it appears that these are your generation mates, your siblings. Captured by Starscream nearly the moment they left the Well, and held in stasis, prevented from ageing these many eons."

*My siblings?* Bumblebee looked with renewed interest at the little one currently snuggled into Jack's arms.

"Why did Starscream keep them in stasis?" Rafael asked.

"It was for a research project he was doing," Ratchet explained, and anger flared in his optics, but didn't reach his voice. "The details are still unclear to me. Much was lost when the pod they were in self destructed. But it appears that he was attempting to find a way to manipulate gross mass without the massive energy drain associated with the conventional method."

"Awe, how cute!" Miko suddenly interrupted the medic. "Lookit that!"

Jack had just placed the smallest of the little ones on the bed beside its siblings. The sparkling let out a sleepy chirp and snuggled up against the back of the largest. With a happy trill the larger sparkling let its tail uncurl and wrap completely around its two siblings. The smallest opened its mouth in a wide yawn and shuttered its optics. Miko and Raf squealed in delight at the display and their respective guardians echoed them happily.

It was Arcee who caught the sharp questioning glance Optimus shot Ratchet, and the worried frown the medic gave him in return.

"What was that thing he did?" Bulkhead demanded, pointing at the smallest sparkling.

"What thing?"Ratchet asked.

"Where he opened his mouth so far," the green mech clarified.

"Doofus!" Miko exclaimed with a giggle. "The little guy was yawning. All babies do that."

"But Miko," Raf protested. "These are Cybertronian babies. They don't breathe."

"Oh, yeah. That's right," the slim Asian said with a frown, "like in the cave. Heyah Ratch! What was that?"

The medic let out a long suffering sigh and shook his head at the impetuous child.

"While Cybertronians do not need to breathe as humans do they do learn in much the same way; by mimicking the behavior of their caretakers. I would assume the sparkling has observed Jack display that behavior."

"Okay, I get that. Now what are their names?" Miko demanded. "Or do we just keep calling them 'the sparklings'."

"Miko is correct Jack," the Prime's voice asked gently. "It would be best if we knew their designations."

In the containment room Jack glanced up from the cup of tea he as sipping with a frown.

"I thought I told you already, but I couldn't find their names in the data. If that information was there it was destroyed too fast for me to read it," he said.

"Ah, but you were the first to greet them when they awoke," Ratchet spoke up. "It is highly unlikely Starsceam gave them names in the first place. From what I was able to gather from the data and what you and Nurse Darby told me of their awakening they imprinted on you. Naming them is your right, your duty."

"Wait," Arcee suddenly glanced up sharply at the medic. "Are you saying that Jack is their…" she trailed off optics wide.

"Yes Arcee," Ratchet said, slightly amused by the astonished looks the assembled Autobots were giving him.

Sounds of shock emanated from every Autobot except Optimus. The Prime was staring at the human in question with an expression of equal parts pride, joy, dread, and compassion.

"Excuse me, what exactly does that mean?" June asked with a startled expression.

"It means," the leader of the Autobots spoke softly, "that according to the most ancient laws of Cybertron Jack is responsible for these small sparks. He is their father."


	7. Rejection

Dying Embers 7

What is in a Name

A Transformers Prime FanFiction

In the silence that followed the Prime's declaration the quiet hum of the generators filled the entire silo. Finally June broke the mood with a laugh.

"Well," she said raising her eyebrows at her son. "I thought I had a few more years before Jack surprised me with grandchildren."

"Mom!" Jack said blushing.

Miko burst out giggling.

"From now on I shall call you Pops!"

"Jackson Darby," Optimus's voice sounded through the base serious and powerful, quieting the watchers.

Jack sat his tea down and focused his attention on the face in the view screen.

"This is a great responsibility," the Prime said, looking straight into the human's eyes. "One I would not ask you to bear if another way were possible. The bond these young ones have formed with you is irreversible. The level of commitment and sacrifice it will require of you, immeasurable. Do you accept the task of rearing these sparklings for as long as they need you?"

"Optimus Prime," Jack said formally, stepping towards the screen resolutely. "It is not just that they have bonded with me. I have in return formed a bond with them. Human children too require great commitment and sacrifice, so this is not an alien concept to me. I have seen both the sacrifice," the young man smiled at his mother, "and the rewards first hand. I do accept this responsibility."

June felt as if she was going to burst from all the emotions swirling around. Pride was foremost; watching her son accept the infants. There was also fear. How would he be able to handle what she knew in her heart was coming? He was strong. Her eyes traveled to the faint scars on his hand. A reminder of how much he'd already been through. But the pain he would face now was of an entirely different sort.

"There is also the problem that until we find a way to neutralize the virus it will be all but impossible for us to aid you directly in their care or even for you to leave the quarantine chamber," Ratchet spoke up. "I think I provided everything you would need beforehand. If I have failed it may be difficult to remedy immediately."

"I've had a chance to look over the list you left me," June replied. "We should be good for at least a month."

"So what are you going to name them Jack?" Miko interrupted eagerly.

"Well, I already have I guess," Jack said rubbing the back of his head with a grin.

"You, guess?" Raf asked.

"It was almost as if they already had names and I just, discovered them," the young man explained.

"This is Stormbreaker," Jack gently stroked the brow of the larger biped, lying safely in the curl of her brother's tail.

"This is Commetflare," he ran his hand over the impossibly long tail.

"And the littlest one is Skyfire." His hand came to a stop on the sparkling. The infant smiled up at and him and let out a sleepy chirrup. He reached up with his little servos and Jack scooped the sparkling into his arms. He walked over to the monitor and held Skyfire up for the Autobots to see.

"What exactly made you choose the name Skyfire?" Ratchet asked examining the little one closely.

Jack explained about the dogsled ride and seeing the Aurora reflected in the sparkling's optics.

"Why do you ask?" June inquired, having heard something odd in the doctor's voice.

"I had a colleague by that name," the red and white Autobot responded in a far off voice, "a long time ago in the Iacon Hall of Science."

"Was he a Bot or a Con?" Miko asked curiously.

"Oh, he disappeared on an exploratory mission before the schism," Ratchet said briskly dismissing the matter.

"Why don't you activate the large monitor," Rafael suggested to Mrs. Darby. "That way the sparklings can see the Autobots."

"That's a wonderful idea Raf," she said with a smile.

It took a little time working under the quarantine conditions, but Jack and June soon had the screen up and humming. Skyfire was snuggling into Jack's neck letting out little chirps of pleasure when the large monitor flickered to life. Arcee was closest to the input feed, leaning forward eagerly to give the little one a good look. Jack carefully rearranged the sparkling and pointed at the screen.

"Look Skyfire, Arcee," he began to say.

The sparkling shuttered his optics rapidly, stiffened and let out a wail of terror. Jack was nearly thrown off balance as Skyfire began scrambling frantically. His two siblings picked up the cries of terror when they saw Arcee. Stormbreaker desperately tried to burrow into the blankets and Commetflare jumped off the bed and disappeared under a piece of machinery.

June swiftly shut off the monitor and rushed over to where Cometflare had disappeared. Jack stumbled over to the bed and sat down beside the panicking Stormbreaker. Skyfire had calmed down as was simply clinging to him whimpering. The young man reached out and began stroking the wailing infant. On feeling his touch the larger biped scrambled up into his lap. Once there she soon quieted down. Mrs. Darby came out from behind the freezer unit holding the last sparkling. His tail was lashing out and coiling back in agitation. June set him down beside Jack and like the others the sparkling sought physical touch. The long centipede tail wrapped around the human's waist and Cometflare latched onto Jack's arm.

"I'll be there to help you in just a moment Jack," June called out.

The young man looked more closely at his mother and saw that she was bleeding. Cometflare's thrashing had left thin lacerations up and down her arms.

"Are you okay?" he asked frantically.

The sparklings began to trill frantically.

"Jack!" Optimus's voice came through the comm.; steady and powerful. "You need to remain calm. The sparklings will respond to your emotions."

The human nodded and took a deep breath.

"Try singing to them," the Prime suggested.

Jack searched his mind frantically for an appropriate song. How had his mom calmed him down when he was little? He knew she had sung him a variety of old family lullabies and he tried to recall them, but looking down at the little alien faces turned up to him, full of fear, only one suggested itself.

"Sunny, day," Jack sang softly, "sweeping the clouds away…"

The music and his touch began to slowly have an effect on the terrified sparklings.

"You're doing fine Jack," he heard his mother say.

She was standing by the sink, holding a towel around her arms. Jack sent her a questioning look without stopping the music.

"I'm fine," she murmured softly, "the cuts are all superficial."

O

O

Out in the silo Acree had jumped back at the wail of terror, a hurt and confused look on her face plates.

"What was that?" Miko asked in the stunned silence.

"He was afraid of me," Arcee said with pain in her voice, "they all were."

Optimus laid a reassuring hand on the cyclebot's shoulder.

"From what we know, of their own kind these young ones have known only Starscream in their short lives. It stands to reason that they would not be ready to give us their trust so easily," he explained, his voice gentle. "For now we must be content to leave them in the care of our human allies."

"Yeah, and you do kinda look like Screamer," Miko offered.

"What?" Arcee demanded, shooting the human a furious look.

The girl found herself the center of a circle of disapproving attention. Even the normally socially thick Asian was aware that she had offended the Autobot seriously.

"I mean, you just," Miko said frantically as her hands shaped the tall slender forms in the air. She finally shot Raf a pleading look.

"Miko just meant that from a low angle. Like a human or a sparkling, a seeker's profile is similar yours," the boy said a scientifically as he could.

Arcee nodded slowly, somewhat mollified, as Bumblebee moved to comfort her. Ratchet was bent over the monitor speaking with June.

"Is Mrs. Darby well?" Optimus asked.

"She assures me that her injuries are inconsequential," the medic responded without looking up. "She has already tended to the matter. But this is something we must take into consideration. For now the sparkling's strength might be a danger to their caretakers."

"We can handle it," Jack's voice came through the speakers reassuringly.

"Mrs. Darby," Optimus addressed the woman directly. He could see the bandages she'd wrapped around her arms but as both humans seemed reluctant to address the issue at themoment changed the subject. "Will you require assistance in communicating with your superiors at the hospital?"

"No," the woman replied. "I took care of that with agent Fowler when we met at the car wash. I was already scheduled to take two weeks leave to assist with humanitarian work in a small island nation known as Haiti. It was something Jack and I planned before, well before you," she smiled up at the Autobots. "I was going to cancel but never got around to it. I had Fowler take a personal letter from me to the organizers. The head of the group going out is a friend of mine. She'll cover for me with the hospital and Fowler will take care of the legal paperwork. As far as anyone is concerned Jack and I will be in a different hemisphere for the next two weeks."

" Good," Optimus nodded his helm in approval. "I am sorry you needed to cancel your plans on our account Nurse Darby."

"Well it's really just a change of venue," June smiled over at the sparklings sadly.

"How so?" the Prime asked intrigued.

"How much do you know about Haiti?" she asked the Autobot leader.

"It is half of an island in the Pacific Ocean," Optimus said. "It has never shown signs of Decepticon activity or energon and its lack of infrastructure would make it difficult for us to act covertly so we have never traveled to that location."

"I see, well that same lack of infrastructure caused major complications when an earthquake hit a few years back. What little they did have was devastated. This caused a terrible rise in the mortality rate among mothers and young children," June explained.

"I was going to assist with an organization called MammaBaby Haiti. Their mission is to reduce the infant and maternal mortality rate by providing medical services and instruction in proper nutrition and hygiene."

"So you would have been tending to ailing children," Optimus said in understanding.

"Yep," the nurse grinned ruefully, "pretty much the same thing I'm doing here; just a different species."

The Prime let his optics fall on the monitor that displayed Jack. The human was flat on his back now with the sparklings sitting happily on top of him.

"Have you told him yet?" he asked softly.

June looked over her shoulder at the scene sadly before responding.

"No, Ratchet wanted to run a few more tests, just to be sure."

Optimus might have responded but an alarm rang through the base. The Autobots who were once again hovering over the monitor stiffened and turned towards the source of the sound.

"Decepticon activity in northern Europe," Ratchet called out in frustration. "From the looks of things they've hit a large energon vein. There are civilians trapped on the mountain roads surrounding the area."

"Autobots!" Optimus's voice reverberated through the base. "Prepare to roll out!"

The soldiers turned without a backwards glance and strode toward the groundbridge. The connected with the main computer and began downloading the mission data. Bumblebee and Bulkhead deposited the two humans in their area. Optimus transformed and rolled into the swirling green portal. Miko and Raf gave them the usual send off before returning to admire the sparklings. The little Cybertronians were truly enchanting and they protested loudly when June informed them that the two caretakers needed some privacy and shut off the video feed. Miko huffed at the blank screen and turned to Raf.

"So? Video games?"

O

O

"Hey Mom?" Jack called out from the bed where he was currently trying to convince Cometflare that jumping off was a bad idea. "What are we going to do about later?"

"What do you mean?" June asked quietly.

"Well, the Haiti story works for now," they young man said with a frown. "It gets you out of work and me out of school, but what do we do after that? I don't know how long Cybertronians stay infants but I signed up for the long haul. I'm their father. And if their reaction to Arcee is anything to go by the Autobots won't be able to help much."

June smiled proudly and sadly down at her son. She sat beside him and rested a hand on his back.

"Jack, there's something you need to know about the sparklings…"


	8. First Words

Dying Embers 8

First Words

A Transformers Prime FanFiction

Jack Darby stood in the shower set up Ratchet had left for them in the quarantine chamber staring blankly at the opaque plastic wall. The water had ceased to run several minutes ago but the young man couldn't find the will to move. It seemed like a lead fist was crushing his heart, making it impossible to breathe. Finally a small noise pierced the fog in his mind. One of the sparklings was chittering excitedly. The human grabbed the towel and began to dry off.

It was odd the way words could affect a person he mused. Despite what the old bromide said, words could hurt far worse than sticks or stones; terminal, for one. In the right context it could elicit the happiest of responses. Who were you going to meet at the train terminal? Grandma? In the wrong context…

Jack stepped out of the stall and June walked past him for her turn. His eyes fell on his sparklings. He was still getting used to that idea. They were his; his responsibility. From the moment Optimus had spoken the words the human had known it was true. It terrified him. It was the most wonderful thing in the world.

Stormbreaker and Sky fire were chirping excitedly up at their brother. Cometflare had discovered he was a glider, to the immense complication of June and Jack's life. Once the little one had a full system of energon his impossibly long tail glimmered to life and a fin of energy spread between each of the thousands of tiny ribs. The sparkling had immediately climbed to the highest point in the chamber and launched itself into the air. He was beautiful in flight. His tail flickered in every color of the rainbow and his blue optics shone with joy. Jack had run around frantically, catching the little one when he drifted into reach. Cometflare had wrapped his warm glowing tail around the human and settled happily into his arms. Now gliding was his favorite occupation. The only relief his caretakers had was that the sparkling needed to nap for a few hours between flights.

Jack held up his arms and the sparkling launched directly towards him. Instead of a long lazy glide Cometflare simply dove down and coiled into Jack's embrace, ending up in a tight ball of happiness against the human's chest. It was an amazing sensation, holding the child. Life and light pulsed through him.

Terminal. Jack's grip on the sparkling tightened and he pressed his forehead against Cometflare's brow ridge as pain seemed to stab through his heart. The little one let out a worried trill and gently stroked Jack's face with his tiny servos. The concern in his voice was echoed by the other two on the bed. The human remembered what Optimus had said about them responding to his moods. He forced himself to smile and called out to his sparklings cheerfully.

O

O

Arcee staggered back into the base. She cast one venomous look back at the closing groundbridge. It was the usual story. They had engaged the cons and driven them away from the civilians, but not without leaving a load of cover-up work for Fowler to perform. With the, fortunately, minor injuries they'd sustained the energon haul was just enough to justify the raid from a tactical position. Ratchet examined each of them, dispensed energon and declared them fit.

It was oddly quiet in the base. Miko and Raf had gone home for the night. Bulkhead and Bee were hauling the cubes back to the storage bay. Optimus, anticipating a furious call from Fowler over the mess they left him, had gone off to compose an official report of the incident. Ratchet was busy preparing something for June and the sparklings.

Carefully the fembot stepped over to the blank monitors. She initialized the cameras in the quarantine chamber. As she stared at the screen her face plates softened. Eons of care and pain seemed to melt away as the warrior silently watched the scene unfolding. Her partner was sitting cross-legged on the cot that had been provided for him. Cometflare perched on his head with the sparkling's long, glowing tail fin spread out behind them like a luminous veil. Stormbreaker was sitting up in the human's lap playing with a green cloth ball and chittering happily. Skyfire was on his back in Jack's arms, optics fixed intently on the young man's face.

Her partner was engrossed in telling the little ones a story. Arcee fine-tuned the audio until she could listen in. He was describing the day they'd met she realized with a start. Jack was detailing the part where she'd transformed to fight the drones under the bridge. The warrior's face twitched in amusement as she listened to his description. If she'd really fought that well the drones wouldn't have lasted long enough for Bumblebee to arrive. It was probably a good thing the tikes were too young to understand what he was saying.

"Amazing isn't it?" Ratchet asked softly.

Arcee jumped at this voice, and looked at him quizzically.

"Humans," the medic continued as if he was talking to himself, "a species far different from us. Down to the very molecules we are composed of. And yet… just look at him. At them. Instinctively he knows what to do to calm them. From the noises he generates to his facial expressions to the way he touches them. Even overwhelmed with three, three Arcee! Most Guardians only ever have to care for one sparkling at a time, he responds perfectly. It is even more obvious when you watch June caring for them. They, at least these two humans, almost make better Guardians than we do."

"What does it mean?" Arcee asked a bit bewildered by the mech's narrative.

Ratchet let out a sigh and shook his head slowly.

"I don't know that it means anything Arcee. Other than that because of these emotional similarities we will perhaps be better able to comfort our human friends when the inventible happens."

"The inventible?" the fembot asked with a frown.

"Yes, I don't suppose anyone has had a chance to tell you yet," suddenly the medic looked very old. He sagged against the railing and the structure groaned as it took his full weight. "You know that they are displaying symptoms of a mild version of cosmic rust?"

The cyclebot nodded mutely.

"Well, they weren't infected in the traditional sense," he said staring at the little ones with longing in his optics. "It is not a self replicating virus. Starscream implanted a device in each of them; a small nano-generator, and fused it to their spark chambers. The generator forms the pathogen and it spreads throughout their bodies and into the surrounding environment," there was bitterness and fury in the mech's voice now. "There is no way to remove those things now, not without destroying their spark chambers. They've grown around them. There is no way to deactivate them either. I can slow the progress of the virus and make them comfortable, but that is all."

The fembot felt as if Breakdown had landed a blow straight to her spark. Her optics traveled back to the scene on the monitor.

"Does Jack know?" Arcee asked suddenly fearing for her partner.

"Yes," Ratchet replied. "June told him."

"How long do they have?" she reached out and stroked the figure on the screen with a servo, compassion surging up in her spark. Jack was going to need her. If there was one thing she was experienced at, she mused bitterly, it was dealing with loss.

"If the virus continues consuming their internal circuitry at the current rate;" the medibot raised a hand to rub his brow, "three days at most."

O

O

"Peek-a-boo!" Jack shouted gleefully.

The three sparklings trilled in delight and covered their optics with their servos; imitating their father. June looked up from where she crouched over a series of test tubes and smiled. The young man was seated in the middle of the floor with all three arrayed around him. They were sitting up on their own now. Thanks to the infusion of clean energon and precious metal colloids the little ones were regaining some of their natural strength.

This made their caretakers live more complicated of course. Cometflare loved to glide but other than creating a hazard for anyone standing above four feet this caused no problems. Skyfire was reasonably calm and preferred above all other things to be clinging to his beloved father. Stormbreaker however… Jack let out a shout and lunged after the little fem as she shot off in the direction of June. The pretty orange vial Grandma was handling had caught her attention. The determined sparkling was halfway up the nurse's leg before Jack could snatch her up.

"Come on Stormy," Jack crooned attempting to pry the little one off of the heavy cotton pants leg, "let go of Grandma."

A small muscle in June forehead twitched at the G word. But other than that her face showed no reaction. She smiled softly down at the two as Jack untangled the little servos. Stormbreaker let out a disgruntled chirp as the young man finally succeeded in detaching her. Her bright blue optics were focused on her goal. June concealed the test tube under a cloth, but that did nothing to deter the sparkling.

"No, Stormy. No," Jack said firmly as he carried her back to her siblings.

"Perhaps now would be a good time to download the speech protocols," Ratchet suggested over the comm.

"Speech protocols?" June asked in confusion. "You mean you just download a program and they know how to talk?"

"Well it's a bit more complicated than that," the medic said in amusement. "The sparklings will need some practice to master the protocols, but it is far more efficient than the human method. Normally the Guardian; Jack in this case, would download his own collected speech programs directly into the infant. However, I have placed three modified download processors in individually sealed containers. Get them out and I will walk you through the procedure. This will also be a good chance to test the compound."

Jack hunted through the boxes until he found the items in question. His mother was still running tests on the excretion Sal had left them. She had told Ratchet that it was a compound they'd discovered that had preventative qualities and the intrigued mech had her examining it from every angle. Following the medic's instructions to the letter the young man selected Stormbreaker and carefully dipped the broach sized device in a shallow dish of the amber liquid then affixed the device to a point on the side of her helm.

The sparkling was unimpressed by the procedure. Her optics flickered for a moment then shuttered a few times but that was the extent of the sparkling's exterior reaction. She looked up at Jack quizzically and tried to grab the device off of her head. The human caught her servos, surprised anew at the little ones strength.

"Now remover the device and give it to June for testing," Ratchet instructed. "We should be able to determine if the compound's properties work on Cybertronian technology from the results."

"So when should they be able to understand us?" Jack asked eagerly.

"If there is no neural damage from the virus thus far," the medic said gravely, "immediately. I simply do not know to what extent the pathogen has already harmed them."

"Do you hear that Stormy?" the young man asked the sparkling on his lap. "You should be able to talk to me now."

The sparkling gave him a smile that nearly made his heart burst, then wriggled out of his grasp and scampered over to her brothers. She sat up next to Skyfire and scratched patch on her head where the device had attached. Jack looked up at the monitor where Ratchet was observing them.

"It may take awhile for her to get used to the new programming," the medic offered. "Let's get the little mechs done."

Cometflare decided that now was a good time to teach his guardians a new game. 'Keep away from Daddy and Grandma' was a huge hit with the other sparklings. It took Jack nearly an hour to capture the glider and carry him over to the bench where the downloaders were stacked. The young man was sweaty and exhausted by the time he affixed it to the sparkling's head. When Comet began to wriggle in his arms the human was ready to snap at the little one to stay still, but the sparkling nuzzled into his shoulder and let out a happy little sigh, and Jack's heart melted.

Skyfire was utterly complacent. He held up his arms for his Daddy to pick him up and sat still through the entire procedure. His bright optics took in everything the humans did, following their hands in quiet fascination. He chirped in a pleased manner when the device was fixed on his head, and let out a giggling trill when Jack removed it.

Ratchet tried not to let the human's see his disappointment when none of the sparklings responded to the new programming. He instead focused on the downloading devices themselves. After being treated with the amber liquid they showed no effects from the virus even after direct exposure to the sparklings. He was discussing trials to see how an energon bath would affect the compound when Jack came over from rubbing down the sparklings holding Skyfire.

The process of cleaning off the orange corrosion had become an hourly chore. The human was excited about something. He pointed to the spot where language downloader had touched the tike's head. There, in a perfect circle was a gleaming patch of uncorroded mesh.

"Nurse Darby, scan that," Ratchet said quietly.

June snatched up the scanner and ran it over the area. Ratchet carefully examined the data.

"It's a mechanoviral specific chelator," the medic finally stated.

"A what now?" Jack asked placing Skyfire back with his siblings.

"The molecules of this compound function like a cage," the red and white Autobot explained. "When it encounters the pathogen the compound wraps around it and then behaves like an enzyme to break it down into harmless substituent particles."

"So it's a cure?" Jack asked with a spark of hope. "Is there anything I can do to help you and Mom research this?"

"Jack," Ratchet said and there was a warning in his voice, a note that made the human's gut clench. "The damage that this virus has already done to their spark chambers is irreversible. It is only a matter of time before their spark chambers breach. As for this compound, it has the potential to ease their suffering greatly, but we do not know if the effect lasts or if it will react badly with their internal systems. For now, simply use it when you clean the corrosion out of their joints. It should be able to alleviate their pain somewhat. Make them as comfortable as possible. But that is all you can do for now. Leave the research to your mother and me."

Jack nodded mutely, his eyes shining with unshed tears, and picked up a rag to return to his task.

O

O

"Was it really necessary to be that harsh?" Arcee asked the medic as he turned to respond to yet another indicator on the main computer.

Ratchet spun around ready to lash out at the fem, but stopped himself. He shuttered his optics for a moment and cleared his CPU.

"Arcee," he finally said, and the weight of all the deaths he had witnessed across the endless war seemed to weigh in his tone. "If I were back on Cybertron, with the full resources of the Iacon Hall of Science, there would still be next to nothing I could do for those sparklings. Here, with this?" his hand swept out to indicate his sparse lab. "It would be far more cruel to keep hopes up."

The medic returned his attention to the maintenance program he was running, silently dismissing the second in command. Arcee frowned at the mech, then gave a small sigh. She continued to watch as Jack carefully massaged the amber liquid into the purring sparklings. If what they had been able to gather from Jack's translation of the fragmented data was right, the little ones had never known anything but pain and cruelty. At least now they were in the care of someone who loved them.

O

O

Jack tried; he simply couldn't resist coming to look over his mother's shoulder as she ran the tests on the excretion Sal had left them. He left his three sparklings curled up together happily. Not asleep, Ratchet had explained that Cybertronians never really slept in the same sense that humans did, but quiet at least. The young man was about to ask Mrs. Darby a question when he felt a tug at his leg. He glanced down and smiled. Skyfire was using his pants to stand up and looking up at the human earnestly. Jack was about to put him back to bed when the sparkling opened his little silver mouth.

"Daddy? Come snuggle us please?" a musical voice asked shyly.

June dropped the spanner she was holding in astonishment. Jack felt his brain turn to happy mush and a huge grin spread across his face.

"Of course Sky," he said scooping the sparkling up against his chest.

"Daddy coming?" Stormbreaker asked sleepily from the cot.

"Daddy coming," Cometflare assured her.


	9. Moments

Dying Embers 9

Moments

A Transformers Prime FanFiction

"How much time Ratchet? Please just give me an answer," Jack asked there were equal parts pain and impatience in his voice.

"I'm sorry Jack," the medic replied curtly, "but there is simply no way to know."

O

O

"Grandma? Where Daddy?" June felt a tug on her heart as well as her leg at the little voice.

"He's taking a shower Skyfire," the woman said.

"Showa? I go help!" the little one chirped.

Mrs. Darby set the test tube down and turned like lightening to snatch up the sparkling. The three sparklings had barged in on their Daddy while he was showering the day before. That first experience, and Jack's ensuing surprise, had left the little ones with a love of falling water, and Jack with abrasions, lacerations, and contusions.

"Why don't you and Stormy try to catch Cometflare?" she suggested pointing to where the glider was circling the room lazily.

"Nope, help Daddy wash!" Skyfire insisted happily.

He wriggled out of her arms and trotted towards the shower. June gave a longsuffering sigh and braced herself.

"Skyfire, NO," she said firmly.

At that tone all three sparklings turned to look at her. Skyfire, always obedient, immediately dropped into a sitting position. But his optics widened and his silver face turned took on a devastated expression. He had displeased Grandma June. The littlest sparkling began to whimper in shame. Stormbreaker toddled over to comfort her brother and Cometflare drifted over to Grandma.

"Skyfire sorry," the largest sibling said seriously.

June let out a small sigh and held her arms out to the sensitive child. Skyfire scrambled up and nuzzled into her shoulder.

"Grandma angry?" he asked softly.

"No,no, Grandma's not angry," June assured the little one.

"Grandma make angry face," Stormbreaker said stoutly.

"No," the woman explained shifting the sparkling to her hip. They were all slowly regaining the mass Satrscream's experiments had stolen from them and even little Skyfire was getting heavier. "That was my serious face."

"Serious face?" Cometflare's voice drifted down from the ceiling.

"Not angry face?" Sky tugged at her ponytail for attention and reassurance he wasn't in trouble.

"This is my serious face," June explained fighting the urge to laugh and summoning the look. "It means you need to do what I say."

"What you say?" Stormbreaker demanded.

"I say we all need to play catch!" the woman declared.

The successfully distracted sparklings chirped in delight. Stormbreaker dropped to all fours and scrambled over to the cot. She pulled out a small wooden crate and grabbed the green wool sock ball Jack had made them when they had first arrived. The tike toddled over to open center of the room and tossed the ball into the air with all her might. Cometflare attempted to lunge and catch it but the sparkling's form was meant for slow graceful gliding, not acrobatics, and he crashed to the ground. Carefully balancing Skyfire June moved to check on the whimpering sparkling. But before she could reach him Jack was at Cometflare's side.

Half dressed and hair still wet from the shower the young man crouched beside his child, worry etched across his face. Jacks hands reached out and ran lightly over the shallow dents on Cometflare's round shoulders. June silently ran the scanner over the injury.

"He's not seriously injured," the nurse reassured him.

"You hear that Comet?"Jack asked gingerly picking the little one up. "You are going to be fine."

June approached and carefully numbed the area and realigned the dented surface with the spanner.

"There, good as new," she declared stroking the sparkling's head.

He snuggled into Jack's bare chest and his whimpering quieted but didn't cease. Jack sat down cross-legged and looked at his mother in concern.

"Mom, are you sure he's okay?"

"Jack," the woman said with a smile, "I think you need to remember something. You are used to dealing with mature Cybertronians, battle hardened warriors at that. They can take pain and injury in stride. But these," she swept out an arm to include the two smaller sparklings who were peeping worriedly up at their brother from the floor, "are still infants. They will suffer for longer over the most minor of injuries."

"So what do I do?" Jack asked earnestly.

June bit back a small laugh at the situation. Here she was living nearly every mothers dream, being asked for advice on grandchildren. The emotions and instincts that were welling up in her were wonderful. She smiled down at her sixteen year old son; half dressed, cradling an alien robot in his arms, covered in minor injuries and could only think they were beautiful. . When did my life get so odd? She wondered to herself as she sat down beside her little family.

"Do you remember that song I used to sing you when you were sick?"

O

O

"At the beginning I thought maybe three days at the most," Ratchet was saying to June. "But it's been four now, and not only are they still alive but some symptoms are actuallyfading."

"Is it the energon bath therapies?" the nurse asked.

"No, more likely it's that compound," the medic replied. "I would like to know more about it. How you produce it and such."

"I need Fowler to contact the source," June requested.

"Very well."

"How much longer will this give them?" the mother asked looking at her son.

"Impossible to say. It is changing the course of the disease. If we don't have to fear the pathogens attacking their CPU's then it will most likely be the existing damage to their sparkchambers that finally do it. They may live as long as another week."

O

O

"Oh pretty please can I have some oatmeal Daddy?" Stormbreaker leaned in against Jack's leg and smiled up at him sweetly.

Summoning all of his courage and self control the young man put down the spoon and looked the sparkling straight in her pretty blue optics.

"No Stormy," he said as firmly as his fast melting heart could manage. "Carbohydrates are bad for little Cybertronians. Remember how the mac-n-cheese got stuck in you mandibles?"

"But you eat it," she said with a sad little sigh.

"Daddy has a different kind of body than you," Jack explained for what felt like the hundredth time.

Also for the hundredth time he marveled at the sparklings vocabulary. In just a few days they had advanced years.

"But why?" the persistent tike demanded.

"I just told you. Hey! Skyfire put down Grandma's spanner! I have a different body; Daddy eats oatmeal with sugar, Stormy eats energon with titanium colloids."

"No Daddy!" Stormbreaker protested shaking her head.

The human noticed that her very first layer of armor was beginning to form. It looked like she was going to favor a sleek form. He smiled and almost missed the rest of her question.

"I mean why in your body different?"

Jack paused with the spoon half way to his mouth. Not even sure where to start on that one.

"Well, sweetspark. Daddy comes from Earth, and you come from Cybertron…"

"We come from different places?" she asked with a little frown.

"Yes…" Daddy senses tingling, Jack didn't like that look, no matter how cute it was. He pulled her into his lap to prevent an outburst and she leaned against his stomach.

"Is Sky from a different place to?"

"Sky and Comet both come from Cybertron just like you," he reassured her, returning to his meal.

She seemed satisfied with that and began to chitter and chirp happily to herself. Jack had asked Ratchet about that sound and the medic had explained that many, but not all, sparklings produced it when they were processing new information.

"You are so cute when you do that," the young man couldn't resist saying, running his fingers over her smooth chestplates.

The sparkling let out a happy trill and began wriggling in his lap. The discovery that Stormbreaker and Skyfire were extremely ticklish had been a source of great amusement to everyone on the base. Miko had convinced Raf to record several minutes of Jack and June tickling the two bipeds. The sounds of their delighted giggling had been stored in the personal files of every Autobot on the base.

Loud clattering drew Jack's attention, making him wince and glance over at his sleeping mother. Skyfire was playing happily with some blocks the young man had fashioned out of the empty tin cans from the human's meals. Cometflare had just made a low pass and knocked over the tower with his tail. Now Sky was whimpering and Comet was crooning apologetically. Jack jumped up and rushed over to sooth the upset sparklings. When he returned his bowl was suspiciously empty. He shot a glance over to where the sparklings had been and heard odd smacking sounds coming from under the cot. With a sigh he walked over and lifted the edge of the blanket.

"Eeep!" Skyfire squeaked guiltily, brownish mush spilling down his chestplates.

All three were gathered around a petri dish containing a well masticated pile of oatmeal. Stormbreaker was holding a spoon up to Cometflare's eagerly open mouth and looking sheepishly over her shoulder at Jack.

"Stormbreaker!" Jack said as sternly as he could, fighting back laughter at the look on their faces. "You took my oatmeal after I said no."

Her lower lip stuck out and began to tremble. The little fem clutched the spoon to her chest and turned her blue optics to the floor.

"I sorry Daddy," she whispered, seeming to lose her vocabulary from shame, "but hungry."

Paternal instinct roared up in the young human and made his heart pound. His little girl was hungry; she needed something he must provide for her. Jack took a deep breath and tried to control the confusing rush of emotions by focusing on the tasks at hand. He reached under the cot and carefully pulled out each sparkling. He left them on the bed for a moment to place the petri dish and spoon in the sink. He grabbed a bottle of deionized water and a set of detail brushes.

"All right, Cometflare first," he said with a sigh.

The glider hopped over to the table and opened his mouth wide. With the utmost care the human set about carefully cleaning the many tiny joints in his mandibles. One by one he squirted, brushed, and rubbed the oatmeal mash out of them. By the time he was done his fingers ached, his eyes were strained and his temper was a bit fayed.

"Here let me take over," a voice offered. "You need to sleep."

Jack nodded in agreement and gladly handed the sparklings over to Gramdma. He climbed between the sheets on the cot without bothering to even wash the gunk off his hands and was about to drift off when something hard was shoved into his mouth.

"Daddy forgot to brush his teeth," Skyfire reprimanded him, jabbing at the items in question determinedly.

"Gack! Shyhire, tank oo buu, ow!" Jack sputtered, frantically grabbing at the toothbrush.

He was pretty sure he heard a chuckle from where his Mom was wrangling the other too, but decided to ignore it. Instead he got groggily back to his feet and walked over to the sink with Skyfire clinging to his leg. He made a show of brushing his teeth and rinsing out the tooth brush. The sparkling nodded happily.

"Now Daddy needs to wash his hands," he instructed.

Jack gave a small sigh and obeyed. He shot a half hearted glare at his mother.

"This is all your fault you know," he groused playfully.

"My fault?" the woman asked.

"The curse," he explained.

"What curse?" a voice chimed over the speakers.

Jack winced; it was easy to forget that between the Autobots and the other humans they were under constant, if benevolent, surveillance.

"Ah Miko, the most ancient of a mother's curses," June explained to the girl. "That their offspring should have children just like them."

A rough bark of laughter sounded over the comm. Jack rolled his eyes. Ratchet always did have an odd sense of humor. You never knew what would set it off.

O

O

"And when I turned around Bumblebee had upended the entire case of self-sealing stem-bolts into the lubrication vat," Optimus was saying over the comm. "It took Ratchet, Prowl, and myself nearly four mega cycles to get them all cleaned out."

Jack laughed tiredly at the sparkling aged antics of the embarrassed scout. The young man was sprawled out on the cot and Skyfire was lying on his chest, twitching happily in time with the story. While none of the sparklings could bear to look at a fellow Cybertronian, they all seemed to love the sound of the Prime's voice. Despite Fowler's urgent calls, Decepticon attacks, energon scouting duties, and the myriad other tasks the leader of the Autobots had Optimus always found time each day to speak to the sparklings and the two humans tending them.

"Daddy, catch me," Cometflare suddenly called out.

Jack lunged up, careful that Sky landed on his lap, and spread his arms wide. The glider came in for his signature landing; coiling at the last moment to collapse into Jack's arms.

"Sleepy Daddy," the sparkling mumbled happily.

Optimus watched as Jack carefully arranged the two sparklings on the bed.

"Come on Stormy," the human called out, "time for a nap."

"Not sleepy," she protested, carefully putting a block on the top of the tower she was making, but her dim optics suggested otherwise. "Cybertronians don't sleep."

"Your brothers will be lonely without you," Jack pointed out coaxingly, quietly amazed again at the depth of her understanding.

"I don't want Sky to be lonely," Stormbreaker agreed with a little frown of thought.

The last of the Primes watched the interaction with a smile. It may have been chance that led to the human taking on this responsibility, but the Autobot had the feeling that the organic was not finished surprised by him. Perhaps he was not the most skilled of Guardians, but the amount of love he poured out on his charges was palpable. He gently laid the little fem against her brothers and watched with a smile as Cometflare spread his tail over them. When Jack turned his eyes towards the monitor there was a question in their blue grey depths.

"Optimus," the human leaned in towards the consol and spoke softly so the sparklings wouldn't hear, "Ratchet says that if the compound keeps working like it has been, the structural degradation might reverse, that…" the words seemed to catch in his mouth, "…they might have more time," the human finally managed to get out.

Looking at Jack's face Optimus suddenly felt very old. The Prime knew what the human wanted, knew he couldn't give it to him. Cerulean optics locked with blue grey eyes.

"No Jack," the Cybertronian said heavily. "They do not have time, only moments."

"What?" the human asked, shock and panic spreading over his face.

"If there is one thing I have learned over the course of this war it is that no one has 'time'. A comrade, a friend, a child, can be taken at any moment. Between any two sparks there is only ever the present moment. You cannot measure that which does not yet exist, cannot count that which has not happened, and it is only when you look back, that one can sum the moments you spent together as time."

Jack rocked back on his heels and dropped his head as he thought over the Prime's words. Silently the human walked over and wrapped his body around his children.

Optimus turned as Arcee rolled in through the main entrance.

"What is Jack up to?" she hailed her commander.

"Cherishing the moment," Optimus said softly.


	10. Risk Vs Reward

Dying Embers 10

Risk vs Reward

A Transformers Prime FanFiction

_To Whom it May Concern, (Yeah we both know who that means but our mutual 'friends' say we have to 'remain subtle'.)_

_First things first the kids are doing well, all things considered. They are all talking now. It was amazing the first time they called me Daddy. I can't even describe how that felt. Maybe someday you'll know. The little girl loves to chatter on endlessly, the biggest brother is very quiet, and the little brother asks a lot of questions._

_They are all eager to learn everything. While they still need to be on a liquid diet they are craving solid foods. You can imagine the problems with that. The doctor and Mom speculate that their condition is causing mineral deficiencies that lead to their cravings. It's hard not being able to provide what they want, what their bodies tell them they need._

_I'm not sure how to say this next part. It's hard, but given your abilities maybe you already knew. The doctor gives them a little over a week. I'm sorry. I'll be sure to write you when that happens. The lotion your brother left helps immeasurably. It has reduced the pain they feel, and makes their lives far more comfortable. It has allowed us more time than he ever thought they'd have…._

Zechariah Franklin set down the letter Johnson had delivered and let his head drop into his hands. His little sister came over and rested a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. The young man leaned gratefully into the caress. They knew each other to well to need words. He couldn't talk about it, she wouldn't ask. The dark skinned girl only stayed long enough to share her love then she was gone. With a shuddering sigh he picked the letter up and continued reading; tears rolling down over his smile.

He and Sal _had_ known. The weakness they had felt in the sparklings had indicated death was near, but they had held out hope that the resources of an advanced alien civilization would be able to bring them back from the brink. The trucker had quietly done what he could to shore up their weakening life force but any healing of that magnitude was beyond his abilities; possibly beyond any human's. Nevertheless, to see it written out in ink was still a blow.

With a deep sigh the human stood and walked out to the garage. Sal's dark grey form was nosed up to an old red Chevy half ton. The semi was grumbling happily to himself as he tinkered in the pickup's engine. Tentacles and tie straps reached in holding various wrenches and parts. Zech thought today's aim was to improve gas mileage in the old truck.

"Salcha," the young trucker called softly.

There were a series of clangs as various tools dropped through the engine and fell to the oil stained concrete below. Zech only used his brother's full name when something was _wrong_.

"What did I do?" the big rig asked a bit frantically.

"You did good ,"Zech said with a sad smile, "and your about to receive the reward for a job well done."

"More work," the deep voice grumbled as the tentacles reached down for the dropped tools.

"Yep," the trucker replied. "We need to go somewhere where we can talk privately."

"Why?" Sal asked absently. "Nobody but family is anywhere near the ranch right now."

"It's about Smith's kids."

Before he could even register the action that had brought it about the human found himself strapped into the driver's seat as the big rig tore down the long driveway to the highway, leaving a string of dropped tools and flying gravel behind him.

"So what's the news?" the big rig asked eagerly as he slowed to a more reasonable speed.

Zech pulled up the letter and started to read, but a long black tentacle came up and smacked the back of his hand in annoyance.

"No! The highlights and good details. You know what I want."

The human leaned back into the comforting warmth of the seat and took a deep breath.

"The disease is terminal," he said staring out across the spruce scrub forest.

The semi lurched to a stop and sat very, very quiet for a moment. Suddenly the engine revved and the roar of seven hundred horsepower almost, drowned out the howl of rage and pain that emanated from the creature within the carbon/titanium shell. Zech flinched as the subsonics rolled over him. He was a bit surprised by the intensity of the semi's emotion. Given his reaction to the adults of the species the human hadn't expected his brother to form such a strong bond with the infant aliens so soon. Zech waited for the last echoes of the lament to die, and the big rig begin to roll again before he continued.

"The growths on their hearts are producing enzymes that eat away at the essential metals in their bodies," the human said summarizing the carefully worded translation of the situation Jack had written him. "The solution you left has been helpful. Because of it the children are almost entirely free of the pain they were in. It looks like it acts to hunt down and destroy the metal binding enzymes. Their bodies are healing, repairing the damage done."

"Wait!" the rig snarled. "How can they be getting better? You said they were terminal"

"From what Smith says the damage to their hearts was too great," Zech said. "The, ah, muscle is actually fine but the sheath that surrounds, contains, and protects the 'heart' is irreparable. With the time your excretion bought, if they had access to better facilities, they might even be able to repair…"

"What facilities?" Sal demanded snatching onto a faint hope.

"The kind that is light-years away and long destroyed by that war we witnessed one battle of," Zech replied, wincing as he felt his brother sag in renewed despair. "But even then it would only have been the faintest of hopes. Anyway, now that their bodies are functioning properly again and growing it is putting more strain on their hearts to power them. Eventually the forces generated from producing the amount of power required by their bodies will destroy the casing around their hearts."

"But the hearts themselves are still strong?"

"Yes."

"So, we can at least help by providing more excretions?" the semi asked after a period of silence.

"Smith thinks so."

"That might be a bit of a problem."

"Why?"

"My systems have already destroyed and purged the last of the pathogen," the semi said. "I'll need a new sample of the virus to produce more."

"I think Johnson and Fowler can manage that," Zech said.

The semi heaved a huge sigh.

"Okay, I think I can handle the good news now," he said quietly.

Zech smiled and began reading his extracts from the long letter. By the time he was done he was crying again and Sal had pulled over and was ripping up brush to chew, a controlled sort of destruction the semi indulged in when he felt helpless.

"Zech," the semi finally said once he had his emotions under control, venting a mass of sawdust out his front grill, "I think I know something else we can do."

"What?"

"One; I'm taking us right now to Old Man Hickory's. We can carve up some goodies for them. I'm thinking cookies and doughnuts. We soak them in mineral oils and gold and silver colloids and maybe essential oils too. It's something the little guys could chew on and share with their Dad too."

"Good idea!" Zech said enthusiastically, rubbing his tears on his sleeve.

"Two; I'm not ready to give up on them," the semi said in tones that booked no argument. "We can still help."

"Sal," Zech said with a sigh. "Red Warrior's science is so far ahead of our own it's not funny, and this is exactly the kind of condition that scientific medicine works best on…"

"Ah, but that is my point. _They_ are limited to what science can understand; _we_ are too, but we have friends who are not."

Zech stared at Sal in dumfounded astonishment for a moment.

"Brother," he spoke quietly, "what you and I have done to aid our new friends could not be avoided, and most importantly it was limited to you, me, and a few close friends. Are you really suggesting we bring the Clan proper into this?"

"Look, I'm not talking about calling a full counsel. I know how counterproductive that would ultimately be, no good to save them now only to have them eaten by something as soon as word got out. But we have more favors due than any family in the Clan. Ma would know exactly who, but I think it might be time to call in a few solids."

Zech frowned as he thought over the proposal. The big rig stopped as they pulled into a lot full of wood carvings and shavings. A bent and haggard old man with a sprig of holly in his hat stumped forward to meet them.

"Gather up the hickory wood," he finally said, "and meet me back at the ranch when you're done. Ma will want to know about this now and I can get home faster across the forest."


	11. Cookies

Dying Embers 11

Cookies

A Transformers Prime FanFiction

"Care package!" Fowler called out gleefully as the elevator doors rolled open.

As he expected, the agent was immediately mobbed by Miko. One girl can count as a mob, he mused, as he danced out of her way, keeping the biohazard box out just out of her reach.

"Lemme see! Lemme see!" she demanded imperiously.

"Nope!" the agent grinned as he side stepped the living dynamo and headed for the quarantine room. "For Mrs. Darby's eyes only. Bulk!"

At the agent's shout the green mech ambled over and scooped up the girl.

"Easy there Miko," he said with a chuckle. "Nothing in there but boring medical stuff."

The slim Asian huffed and plopped down on the mech's wide shoulder.

"You know, this bites," she complained, kicking her heels against Bulkhead's plating. "It's no fun without Jack out here. Yeah, I really said that."

"Wanna watch TV?" the mech suggested as her strolled over to the human's living area.

Miko let out a groan in response.

"Man, I can't wait until Jack can bring Stormy out here to play. There is so much I want to teach her."

"Mrs. Darby says you've taught her quite enough all ready," Bulk pointed out.

Fowler watched them go with a sad smile. Apparently none of the bots had found it in their sparks to tell the younger two children the full truth yet. He didn't think Optimus would have let their ignorance persist like that, but the Prime had his servos full with a steady stream of Decepticon attacks. The agent shook his head and continued on to the airlock Ratchet had improvised. He handed up the impossible slim pipette of the newest secretion from the mystery source to the medibot. June still hadn't revealed where the stuff came from, a fact that infuriated the medic. Only Optimus backing her decision had kept peace in the base.

The agent placed the package on the wooden trolley and rolled it through the airlock. Once his side was sealed again, the blurry form of Mrs. Darby stepped through the other side to retrieve it. She waved at him through the thick plastic and hauled the trolley into the quarantine chamber. The man took a moment to watch her move. Even through the thick plastic and wearing military surplus clothing that woman had a walk; he found his tired brain thinking. The agent shook his head firmly at the unworthy thought.

"Bad William, bad!" he muttered, turning to go.

O

O

"What a care package Daddy?" Skyfire asked from his perch on Jack's shoulder.

"Well it's when someone who cares about you sends you a package full of good things," the young man explained as he pried Stormbreaker off the trolley with a yawn.

"There are good things in the box?" she asked eagerly, running her optics over the red and white container.

"Yes Stormy," June said with a smile as she transferred it to a higher table, hopefully out of the little fem's reach.

"Who cares for us?" asked a soft windy voice from above.

Both humans started. Though he gladly joined in the snuggling and listened to story time avidly Cometflare spoke rarely; preferring to watch silently as he cruised above their heads on the strong air currents Ratchet had programmed into the chamber's ventilation system. It was always a pleasant surprise when he did choose to interact.

"Do you kids remember Zech and Sal?" Jack asked.

"Who?" Skyfire asked scrunching his olfactory sensors up curiously as June opened the box.

"When we were coming here in the big truck," the human explained, Ratchet had told them the sparklings should be able to remember everything.

"Yes!" Stormbreaker declared as she tried to wriggle towards the enticing package. "One human like Daddy with a nice lap, and then the one who always played hide and seek in the vents."

The other two sparklings chirped their agreement.

"The one like Daddy was Zech," Jack said. "The other one was Sal."

"Are they our uncles too?" Sky asked.

"Well, if I'm your Dad by way of impression, and you spent a good part of your first few days with them then Uncle makes sense," the young man mused, "so yes."

"So we got a big big family now," Stormbreaker said happily. "There's Grandma June, Daddy, me, Sky, Comet, Uncle Raf, Aunty Miko, Uncle Zech, and Uncle Sal. Does Uncle Sal tell stories?"

"I'm sure he can," Jack said as he sat down and bounced her on his knee. "But you forgot some family." He had to stop bouncing the little fem for a moment to rub his chest.

Stormy frowned and counted carefully on her fingers.

"Aunty Arcee," the human prompted softly.

Immediately a look of terror flashed across the faces of the sparklings. Cometflare let out a chirp and dove for the comfort of Jack's lap.

"Arcee scary!" Stormbreaker shuddered, losing her vocabulary in her fear.

"Maybe she is a little," the young man said gently stroking his trembling children. "But she loves you very much. She would never hurt you and she wants to be a part of your lives. So do Uncle Bee and Uncle Bulk and Uncle Ratchet."

"Grandpa Optimus too?" Skyfire asked shyly.

"Especially Grandpa Optimus," June assured him.

The sparklings had bestowed the title Grandpa on the deep voice whose face they had never seen themselves, despite refusing to even acknowledge the other bots. Jack wasn't even sure where they'd heard the term but Ratchet pointed out it was part of the vocabulary they had downloaded.

"Okay," Stormbreaker whispered, quaking. "Aunty Arcee," she bravely held up one little servo, "Uncle Bumbee," another popped up, "Uncle Bulkhead," "Uncle Ratchet," the thumb joined the rest, "and Grandpa Optimus Prime."

The little one was trembling hard by this time and Jack hurried to reassure her that she was a brave girl. He was vaguely aware that his mother had abandoned the conversation a few moments before to start an earnest discussion with Ratchet. Suddenly she appeared by his side and handed him a hard brown circle.

"You are a very brave girl Stormy," June was saying, "Would you like a cookie?"

The question registered in Jack's mind just as he bit down on the piece of chocolate and peppermint flavored wood.

"I can have a cookie?" the sparkling asked eagerly, "Just like Daddy?"

All fear was forgotten in the wonder of the moment.

"Yes just like the one your Daddy is chewing. On. Right. Now!" the mother fixed her son with a pleasant but commanding look.

Taking the hint the young man began to work his teeth gingerly over the smooth surface of the wood. It actually wasn't that bad, except for that odd metallic tang that was making his mouth water like a hydrant.

"Thank you Grandma!" Stormbreaker squealed. "Can Comet and Sky have one too? They brave!"

"I think that would be fine," June said with a smile, "if it's okay with your father."

Jack nodded around his 'cookie', and his mother carefully handed them each one of the wooden treats. The sparklings all scooted around holding their cookies until they formed a triangle in front of their father. Now that they actually had permission to eat something they were a bit hesitant. Finally Stormy delicately nibbled on hers. The chemical sensors on the roof of her mouth detected the peppermint oil the hickory wood was soaked in and extended to investigate. When the delicate fibers reached the surface of the cookie a wave of pleasure coursed through the little one. The surface was impregnated with gold particles and the little fem began eagerly chewing the hard wood to get at them.

Their father kept up the pretense of 'eating' his cookie until he saw that they were completely engrossed in the treats. Still maintaining his smile the human stood up and slipped his back into the box. It looked like there were several dozen packets, each containing three cookies, and several different flavors.

"Ratchet okayed these?" Jack asked.

"Yes," his mother replied. "There is nothing in them that could hurt the sparklings and it should help quiet some of the cravings."

"Like Binky?" The young man asked causally, looking at the happy children.

June gaped at the back of his head for a moment in utter astonishment, then let a wide grin split her face. It had been years since Jack had even admitted his pacifier habit that had worried her for some time, let alone acknowledged his favorite one by name. She still had Binky, stored away in a shoebox on a closet shelf at home. The woman had intended to pull it out and share a few fond memories of sleepless night when Jack had children of his own. She let her eyes rest on the trilling sparklings for a moment. She would have to show it to him… A sword of pain pierced her heart as it occurred to her what would be the likely event that would release them from this chamber. That was one conversation that would have to wait for more healing to occur.

"Like Binky," she agreed quietly, and turned to begin preparing the sparklings' injections for the day.

"Hey, personal letters," Jack said suddenly, picking up the one bearing his name. He opened the seal and took a moment to admire the beautiful handwriting. He unfolded the letter and blinked in surprise. There were two distinct hands. Both were clean and even, showing an amazing level of skill and alternating down the page. His eyes blurred for a second as he tried to read and the human absently rubbed them. He was so tired.

O

_To Whom it Matters, (yeah my side of the mutual acquaintance is being snarky too)_

_I'm delighted to hear that the children are feeling better. Yes, we suspected, but held out hope that science and research might find a way so didn't say anything. We've sent along a few treats that we thought the kiddos might like. Cookies and what not, sort of, all organic, all natural, non-GMO. I hope they help with the cravings. They were all my brother's idea_

Here the handwriting changed.

_Don't listen to him! He helped as much as me in designing the goodies! But if they do like them I take full credit! Tell the little ankle biters that I miss them. Do they remember me? A lot of __species __babies can't recall anything from before they can talk. But yours seemed especially sharp so maybe._

The two brothers wrote on. There were vague details about the new batch of compound with a promise that Dr. Green's letter was far more detailed and scientific. Good wishes and prayers were sent from Ma Franklin and Zech's sisters.

…_but don't worry. We only told them that a friend had some ill children…_

Sal reassured him. Jack smiled. There was something incredibly painful in the letter. He got the feeling that they didn't accept the inventible. Perhaps Zech just still had faith in the vaunted advanced alien tech. There were personal messages for each of the sparklings. The young man broke into a laugh as he read the amusing salutations. The affections of both truckers gleamed through the humorous words. The human glanced over at his children. They were still utterly engrossed in the cookies, passing them around and sharing the different tastes.

Jack sat down on the bed again, the letter dangling from his fingers, eyes unfocused. One hard lesson he'd learned was that Cybertronians didn't sleep. They would occasionally rest and be still to let heat sensitive parts cool but unlike humans they did not require spending a large fraction of their day comatose. Normally sparklings required literally twenty-four/seven care. June tried to spell her son but the infants had bonded to him, not her. It seemed impossible for them to leave him alone for more than twenty minutes at a time. For the past few days he'd been running on tea. His mother was feeding him a constant diet of liquid nutrients and enzymes to support his stressed system.

The only reason he was getting any sleep at all was the virus. The sparklings' weakened processors would simply shut down for a few hours as the repairing systems drained energy from their young sparks. When this happened to one, usually Comet, the others would soon gather around him chirping softly and enter the dormant phase as well. What the humans had taken for normal sleep cycles Ratchet had explained was the last remaining obvious symptom of the disease, their tired little bodies shutting down all nonessential systems while repairs were made.

With each injection of mineral infused energon Jack gave them their sparks grew stronger, more capable of supporting the repairs and growth needed. With every ounce of mass they added their sparks grew closer to the power level that would overwhelm and breech their irreversibly damaged spark chambers.

Jack closed his eyes and looked at them the way Zech had taught him to. They were even more beautiful that way if it was possible. Their sparks burned like stars, the delicate lace of their energon veins moving around the core light like the arms of a galaxy. Cometflare especially gleamed, long tail looking even more like his namesake. But he could also see the damage, the weaknesses expressed as interruptions and eddied in the flow. There was a shadow over the little stars.

With a sigh Jack reluctantly opened his eyes and let the vision fade. His heart was pounding again. The young man rubbed his chest and glanced nervously at his mom. She was reluctant to let him use as much caffeine as he already did. But every moment the sparklings lay still was a cruel reminder of how few they had left. More often than not now he would lay awake during those few hours and simply listen to the hum of their life force, struggling to breath around the lump in his throat. The noise was too faint for his ears to pick up, but he was beginning to understand that this 'sixth sense' functioned as an extension of all five of his other senses. Hearing could be augmented as well as sight.

Suddenly Skyire fumbled and the cookie dropped and rolled across the floor. Stormbreaker dove after it but wasn't fast enough. The littlest one watched it disappear under a computer bank and gave a whimper. Cometflare leaned over, handed his cookie to Sky and stroked his shoulder soothingly. Skyfire smiled thankfully up at his brother. Jack was admiring the display of brotherly love when Stormy growled from where she was still trying to retrieve the escaped cookie.

"It's okay Stormy," the young man called out. "We'll just get another one."

"Scrap no!" the sparking trilled in agitation. "I'm gonna get that one. It's Sky's."

Jack and his mother stared in shock at the little fem. She must have felt the sudden tension in the room because she glanced back at them curiously.

"What did you say?" her father asked tightly. Jack was furious, not at the sparkling, but someone was going to face his wrath. His heart started that odd weak pounding again. He glanced over and was shocked to realize his mom was fighting back laughter. This was serious!

"I said, 'scrap no'," the sparkling repeated in confusion.

June spun around and clutched at her stomach, resisting the urge to break out in spasms of laughter. The look on Jack's face had been priceless. He shot her a resentful look and turned to his child.

"Sweetspark, we don't use words like that," he began awkwardly.

"Words like what?" she asked abandoning the cookie.

"Words like," the father hesitated, "well, 'scrap'."

"Uncle Bulkhead does," Stormbreaker pointed out.

"And how do you know that?" Jack asked.

"Aunty Miko says so."

Jack took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves.

"Stormy, don't ever use that word again. Bulkhead is a warrior bot. He needs those kind of words for fighting. Sparklings don't need them."

"Okay," the little fem had lost interest in the discussion. She clamped her own cookie in her mouth and scampered over to play with the blocks

O

O

June sat on the floor with the sparklings rolling a rubber ball back and forth. It was made of old fashioned Indian tree rubber and had been one of the presents in the care package. The little ones loved it and catch had become their new favorite game, allowing Grandma to distract them from their father for a short time. She had sent Jack to bed with a cup of herbal tea.

She was beginning to worry about her son. The fatigue could be due to the lack of sleep, but there was something nagging at the back of her mind. Her nurse's instincts were flaring up now every time she looked at him. The way he had lashed out at Miko over the 'scrap' incident had only served to worry her more. She had never seen her son so unreasonable. From the look on Optimus's face plates he had been concerned as well. He had turned to her and his blue optics asked a silent question. The woman had nodded in response. She was planning to give her son a through exam once he had caught up on a little sleep; no sense in letting extreme fatigue cloud the results.

"Nurse Darby," Ratchet's voice called softly from the comm.

June started and glanced at her wrist where her watch should be. She smiled and shook her head at the reflex. It must be time for their daily update. The woman carefully stood and left the sparklings to their game. The doctor and nurse were well into their discussion of the latest batch of compound when she felt a tug on her leg. The grandmother smiled down at Sky's worried face. A quick glance confirmed that Comet was gliding the currents and Stormy was chasing the ball around the far corner of the chamber.

"What's the matter Sky?"

"Daddy," the little one whispered.

"Daddy is sleeping. You need to leave him be," June said, surprised the sparkling had asked for permission.

"Sorry," the smallest sibling seemed to shrink even more. "But Daddy no wake up. I try."

June felt an odd little twist in her heart. She shoved it down and strode over to where Jack lay. The nurse touched her fingers to his carotid artery. His pulse was fast and thready. She rested her hand on his shoulder and her fingers brushed against something hard, like metal fragments under the skin. Frowning she gave the young man a gentle shake.

"Jack," she called out firmly, to no response, "Jack!"


	12. Iron

Dying Embers 12

Iron

A Transformers Prime FanFiction

Ratchet heard the fear rise in the mother's voice the second time she called her son and felt dread grip his spark. Before the last of the name had died away he had pulled up every sensor he had in the quarantine chamber on the monitor.

"Nurse Darby get me a scan!" he snapped out. "Describe the symptoms."

June whipped around and snatched up the hand scanner Ratchet had made for her, sending up a silent prayer of thanks that the medibot had insisted on calibrating it for human as well as Cybertronian physiology. Her hands trembled just a bit as she reset the parameters.

"His pulse is thready and fast," the nurse said with a calm voice as she allowed her training to take over. "Mucous membranes are bluish, Slight fever, and there appears to be metal fragments embedded in his shoulder."

She grabbed a pair of scissors and cut off the grey shirt covering her son.

"It appears to be a cluster of starbursts," she said with a frown. The texture suggested minerals just under the epidermis but the pattern was organic or possibly crystalline.

She pressed her stethoscope against his chest. The sound of his breathing was faint but regular.

As a field medic Ratchet had seen far more than his share of suffering and death. He had watched too many friends die. The Autobot had learned to control his fear grief, to shunt it aside. Countless times he had watched the light fade from the optics of one patient and simply moved on to another. There would be time to grieve later. So it was with some surprise that a small portion of the red and white Autobot's processor noted the voice whispering in his head, over and over. 'Not Jack, please Primus; not Jack.' No matter how hard he tried as his servos pulled up every scrap of information on human physiology he had gathered, he couldn't banish the voice.

The screen came alive with the data from the scan the nurse ran over the young man's prostrate body. Ratchet franticly absorbed the data. He saw the evidence of all the symptoms Nurse Darby was describing, the rapid but weak heart beat, Jack's core temperature elevated to just over one hundred degrees, and the odd metal growth on the human's back. The medic cursed himself as the full implications hit him. He had been so absorbed in treating the sparklings he hadn't even considered the possibility that the pathogens might be able to jump species.

"He needs oxygen Ratchet," June said urgently. The scan had only confirmed what she had first diagnosed. "His saturation levels are at seventy-two percent."

"Miko!" the medic shouted across the base without looking up.

In the human's living area the girl jumped up startled from where she was sketching.

"What?" Miko demanded. "You made me ruin my drawing."

"In my lab," Ratchet interrupted her whining, "stacked next to the damaged communications array are several oxygen tanks; silver with green tops. Load four of the second smallest ones onto the trolley you will find next to storage shelf Beta-5. In a cardboard box in storage cabinet Alpha-7 you will find the necessary tubes and masks to go along with them. Take the trolley to the air lock of the containment unit."

The slim Asian huffed and slammed her sketchbook down on the battered couch and shuffled towards the lab. She was already irritated that she hadn't seen Bulkhead in days and not in the mood to be ordered around. The medic suddenly spun on her and snarled.

"Move child, or get out of the base. Jack's very life may depend on this," his blue optics burned with a fierce light.

For the first time since they'd met a small trickle of fear ran through the girl when facing the Autobot. She had never heard that much passionate rage in any voice. It was quickly overwhelmed however by fear for Jack. She jumped and sprinted for the equipment.

"I can increase the relative oxygen concentration in the chamber but that will do little good unless I can also increase the pressure," Ratchet explained to June.

The nurse had set the scanner beside Jack's bed and had it running constant scans. She was now mainly occupied with calming the sparklings while she waited for the oxygen. Cometflare was circling over his father letting out a steady worried trill. Stormbreaker was clinging to June's leg letting out a stream of worried chatter. The woman was in the process of untangling Skyfire from the remains of Jack's shirt. The littlest sparkling had climbed up and latched on to him determined to stay close. Ratchet took a moment from his examination of Jack's data to address the scene.

"Nurse Darby," he said as firmly and as calmly as he could. "In lieu of your son the sparklings are relying on you to stabilize their emotional state. You must remain calm."

He saw her spin to face the camera, saw her mouth snap open then hesitate. She began to take deep breaths. Finally the woman quietly nodded.

"Good, Miko is approaching with the oxygen tanks," he informed her. "Until she gets there please take a scan of yourself as well so I can compare the results."

Nurse Darby gave up attempting to detach Skyfire and instead transferred Stormy to Jack's bed as well. She ran the scanner over herself then retrieved the tanks from the airlock and quickly set one up by Jack's head. Cometflare had descended and now all three sparklings were leaning on their father's chest.

"Come on kiddos," June crooned trying to dislodge them so she could work. "You need to get off your Daddy."

"No!" Stormy wailed. "I scared! Daddy wake up!" She pushed her little hands against his ribcage frantically.

June fixed her serious look on each of the sparklings one at a time.

"Cometflare, Stormbreaker, Skyfire," she said in a tone that could not be ignored. "I need to help your Daddy. You need to back up. Skyfire, here," she scooped the unresisting tike up and placed him on Jack's knees.

"Stormy here," June set the little fem down just behind Sky.

"Cometflare, stay," she set the largest sibling down beside the other two. As she was hoping, the glider automatically spread his tail around them, simultaneously comforting and containing.

The nurse immediately returned her attention to her son. With practiced movements she slid the oxygen mask over his head and secured it to his face. She cranked the valve open and the soothing hiss of gas escaping filled the chamber.

Having done all she could the woman turned her attention to the data the scanner had gathered. After a moment she heard a frustrated exclamation from Ratchet. She had to agree.

"This makes no sense," he exploded furiously. "According to these readings there is nothing wrong with his respiratory system."

June had to agree, nothing immediately appeared to be wrong.

"His lungs and airways are clear, red blood cell count is at acceptable levels, and iron levels are normal. There is a slight inflammation of the liver but nothing that could be affecting his respiration and heart rate," Ratchet continued.

"Wait," June said frowning. "RBC and iron levels are both normal? But he's showing definite signs of anemia."

"Yes," Ratchet confirmed, "I'll check again but current readings indicate if anything slightly elevated numbers of erythrocytes, six million per cubic centimeter. White blood cell count is elevated as well. Iron levels are what I'd expect from the amount of extra nutrients you've been administering."

"Then why is he showing all the symptoms of acute anemia?" June demanded in frustration. "His skin is still blue under the fingernails."

Ratchet examined the young man's dermis. It was indeed a darker shade than was healthy, indicating a lack of oxygen. Except for that large patch on his face, back, and chest where the pigment Ratchet had developed covered the markings Jack had received at the clinic. Suddenly Ratchet's optics widened in shock.

"Blast!" he whispered. "Nurse Darby, please continue to focus on his respiratory system with the existing data and recalibrate the scanner for Cybertronian systems."

The woman automatically obeyed.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I hypothesized that the pathogens produced by the sparklings' implants would pose no problems for humans because they worked by binding to and removing the Cybertronian metals in the sparklings' frames. Humans do not naturally posses the substances these pathogens are designed to attack."

"But Jack does," June suddenly said in understanding, "the tattoos."

"Indeed; the colonies of Cybertronian nanobots that were applied during his time on Cybertron," Ratchet affirmed never taking his optics off the data stream. "I should have thought of that immediately, But I still don't think that their destruction could have affected him in any measurable, ah there."

June held her breath and tried to focus on Jack. His pulse was growing steadier and stronger and his skin was slowly regaining a normal hue.

Suddenly a groan sounded from the bed.

"Jack!" June and Ratchet called out in unison.

The young man blankly turned his face towards the hovering figure, eyes wide but didn't respond.

"His oxygen saturation levels are coming up," June said with tempered relief.

The data indicated that while the plasma saturation of the precious gas was approaching normal levels the tissue wasn't being oxygenated at the same rate.

"Think Ratchet, think!" she heard the medic mutter.

She fought the urge to ask questions and tried to find something wrong in his blood work that could explain his symptoms. Meanwhile Ratchet continued speaking out loud.

"He does have a high level of the pathogens in his blood stream; a far greater concentration than you. How is that possible? They seem to be concentrated just under the epidermis around several abrasions on his back."

"His back?" June asked. "Where he fell onto the damaged consol in the pod?"

"Yes, I see, he must have received a massive dose of the pathogens then," the medic paused and thought for a second. "They are attracted to the energon in the nanobot colonies. But I can detect no decrease in the number of nanobots."

The medic gave June a set of instructions on adjusting the scanner then nodded.

"As I expected, the nanobots have retreated into Jacks cells. Nurse Darby pleas pull up screen Theta-six."

The woman obeyed and studied the data carefully. She winced at the new sound the sparklings were making. They seemed content to stay where June had left them but were synchronizing in an earsplitting keening. Ratchet was trying to ignore the spark wrenching cry when he caught a movement out of the corner of his optic.

"Miko,NO," he said.

"But Docbot!"

"NO Miko," Ratchet said firmly. "The last thing we need right now is that awful noise."

The vivacious girl was standing beside the audio-pickup holding her guitar. Thank Primus the amplifiers were still on the other side of the room.

"But Ratchet, please!" Miko begged. "I want to help and I know I can calm the sparkles down a little at least with some music. It sooth the savage Cybertronian you know."

"I seriously doubt Slash-Monkey has a very calming effect on anything," the medic spat sarcastically.

"I know more than metal," Miko said quietly.

The girl sat down cross-legged and took a deep breath. She brought the instrument up to a playing position and stroked the strings with eyes closed. Ratchet turned away; unwilling to devote the time and effort to get rid of her. If the noise became too much he would simply tune out both his audio receptors and the chamber's pickups.

"Anyway, as I was saying. Unlike the pathogens the nanobot's possess a very limited intelligence," the medic went on. "When they sensed the danger they transformed the molecular forms on their surfaces to convince Jack's epithelial cells to admit them."

"They're mimicking LDL's," June said in amazement.

"LDL's?" the Autobot inquired, making a quick check of Jack's vitals.

"Low-density lipoproteins," the nurse explained. "Spherical packages produced in the liver to carry cholesterol molecules to the cells that need them for fuel. The nanobots are the right size and shape anyway so as long as they could trigger the receptors the cell would have no trouble admitting them through endocytosis, basically the membrane wraps around the nanobots and swallows them whole. But how does being in the cells protect them from the pathogens?"

"The double layer of phosolipids that forms the cell membrane is essentially impenetrable to the Cybertronian pathogens. The simply weren't designed to deal with organic molecules," Ratchet clarified. "Anyway the nanobots are programmed to cluster together when endangered; a feature that makes it easier to remove them if we have to. Those raised starburst patterns are caused by both the clusters of nanobots and the pathogens that are attracted to the energon they carry."

"So it will be easy to remove them," June asked, eager for good news.

"Yes," Ratchet said slowly, "but I am not certain that is the best course of action."

"Why not?"

"Look at the degradation rate of the pathogens Nurse Darby," Ratchet said thoughtfully. "Unable to reach the nanobots and clustered as they are, they are starting to devour each other. Add to that that Jack's own macrophages appear to be quite capable of dispatching of them," the medibot pulled up a current image of a mass of white blood cells surging over the collected metallic pathogens. "It might be a slightly slower process but it is…"

The medic stopped talking and shuttered his optics rapidly. The sparklings had stopped crying out and were listening intently to something. In the sudden silence Ratchet could hear it as well. A strange, haunting music was filling the base. It had begun so softly that he hadn't even registered it at first. His eyes fell on Miko. Her eyes were closed and she was swaying in time with a slow tune that seemed to float up from her fingers and move around him. In the quarantine room even June appeared to be relaxing. Without another word the medic adjusted the audio receivers to accentuate the beautiful music. Humans were full of surprises he mused.

"The process of eliminating them is occurring naturally," he continued. "I doubt very much that it is the pathogens present at these sites that are causing his condition. However there is one that is conspicuous in its absence. As I explained before the generators on the sparklings' spark chambers produce several different pathogens, each specific to one metal. Each of those is well represented in these sites except for the one for…"

"Iron," the nurse said as the realization struck her.

Ratchet nodded and pulled up the data on the ferrous binding pathogen. Simultaneously June enlarged an image of one of Jack's red blood cells and compared it to one of her own. Two of the familiar doughnut shapes appeared. It didn't take long to find the difference now that she knew what to look for, right in the center of the cell.

"There," she said pointing. "Something has ripped the iron atom right out of the heme-group, leaving it too damaged to bind again, but not damaged enough to trigger cell death. That's why his RBC hasn't dropped."

"And here is that something," Ratchet confirmed displaying a rusty looking sickle shape floating along with the platelets and other formed elements in Jack's blood stream. "The iron binding pathogen. Unlike the others this one found a target in the blood. So it is free floating and evenly distributed; explaining why the scanner was reading sufficient iron in his system."

"The damage is being repaired," the nurse murmured watching the results scroll past, "but not nearly fast enough. He's going to need a transfusion."

"I will contact Agent Fowler and explain the situation. Make a list of the needed materials and I will have him acquire them," Ratchet said briskly. "Meanwhile I will see if the solution we are using in the sparklings' energon is compatible with the human blood system."

June nodded and grabbed a data pad.

O

O

Special Agent William Fowler was sitting at his desk glaring at a stack of paperwork. It was running through his mind that his day couldn't get any worse when the phone rang. He reached for the phone with a silent prayer of apology to whatever had heard him. It was the red phone. The one that only the Autobot's had the number to.

"Fowler," he said gruffly.

The man's back stiffened and suddenly he looked far more like an Air Force pilot than the paper-pushing bureaucrat he was daily more afraid he was becoming.

"I understand," he said, shifting the phone to his shoulder and picking up a pad of paper and pencil. "Tell me what you need. Send me a bridge to the usual coordinates and I'll have it all there in under thirty minutes. You're welcome June. Bye."

The man made one more call then leapt out of his desk and out the door, leaving a snowstorm of paperwork in the small room behind him.

O

O

In the Autobot base a swirling green portal opened and Fowler strode through carrying a rectangular tan container and wearing a large backpack. With only a quick nod at the medic and a wondering look at the girl calmly playing soothing music beside him, the agent jogged back to the quarantine room. Instead of placing the items on the trolley however, he walked into the airlock. June blinked when she saw him and opened her mouth. Fowler handed her the tan box before she could speak and began shrugging off the backpack as they walked towards Jack.

"Before you say anything Mrs. Darby," the agent said firmly. "I am fully trained in first aid and I have preformed blood transfusions all by myself in far worse situations than this. At least here I don't have to worry about getting sand in the kit. Hi kids," he cheerfully greeted the huddled sparklings. "I'm Fowler."

They shuttered their optics at him in surprise but didn't move.

"Let's get started," the agent said seriously to June.

To her surprise he was quite competent at the procedure; his strong hands gently handling Jack's limp arm and skillfully finding the vein in his arm before marking it. He set up the IV drip as June prepared to insert the needle.

"Nurse Darby! Wait," Ratchet called out suddenly.

"What is it?" she demanded.

"Before you begin administering more blood let's deactivate the pathogens. Otherwise they will simply destroy this batch as well."

"But you said," June protested.

"That there was no safe way to destroy them in the sparklings," Ratchet interrupted her. "But there is a safe way for Jack. You can adapt the scanner to give out a low level but intense electromagnetic pulse specific to the pathogens. In the sparklings it would do irreversible damage to their processors but it should have no effect on Jack."

"Tell me what I need to do," June said quietly.

It only took a short time to make the modifications; which mostly involved disabling the safeties Ratchet had installed to prevent the EM burst in the first place. That only left the problem of what to do with the sparklings. They were much calmer now but wanted nothing to do with the strange new man who had showed up. Finally June and Fowler took the three of them over to one corner of the chamber. Fowler left her there with the sparklings and a fresh cookie for each.

He walked back to the bed and carefully lifted the unresponsive Jack into his arms. June watched in surprise as the gruff and often irreverent agent seemed to transform with the action. There was intense focus in his eyes and tenderness in how he handled the young man. He carried Jack over to the far corner from the sparklings to prevent them catching any of the pulse. Carefully he fixed the scanner over Jack's liver and triggered the electromagnetic wave. The little ones suddenly jumped and looked around in surprise, but not discomfort June noted gratefully.

"The pulse was activated Fowler," Ratchet said.

They returned Jack and the sparklings to their original positions and June rescanned her son. A shout of triumph sounded from the comm.

"It worked Nurse Darby," the medic announced. "The pathogens have been partially denatured."

"Partially?"

"They were not completely destroyed," he clarified, "but they have been rendered inert. Now it is simply a matter of time until Jack's own immune system finishes the job. You may proceed with the transfusion."

Skillfully, June inserted the needle into Jack's arm and attached the IV line. Slowly gravity fed the healthy red blood cells into his body. Minutes passed as the mother watched the numbers representing his oxygen climb higher. Steadily his heartbeat increased in strength. Soon his gums returned to a bright pink color.

Finally June sagged back and felt the agent rest his hands on her shoulders comfortingly. She leaned into him for a moment and closed her eyes. She rested that way for a moment. He was wearing a very subtle scent she noticed idly, an earthy fragrance like a fir forest. Suddenly she found herself very aware that she was standing next to a man.


	13. Kisses

Dying Embers 13

Kisses

A Transformers Prime FanFiction

June Darby straightened and moved away from Agent Fowler, blushing slightly.

"It's almost time for the childrens' feeding," she said quickly, not looking at his face.

"Uh, I'll help," he muttered glancing away glad for a distraction, "if you don't mind."

"Not at all," she said, "it is a two person job. Let's just make sure they're comfortable with you first."

It didn't take long for the sparklings to accept Fowler. In their short experience no human had ever harmed or even frightened them. Why should they fear this one? They seemed fascinated by the dark color of his skin, and promptly began poking and prodding him. When June moved to correct them the bachelor just laughed and shook out a bruised hand.

"Awe, let them be," he said with a grin. "I'd get worse pinches than this working on my bird back in the force."

"Agent Fowler," June said pursing her lips together and unconsciously shifting into her 'Mother knows best' voice. "It is very important that we do not encourage behaviors like this, it may be cute now but when they're grown…"

The woman's voice cut off suddenly as she realized what she was saying. Fowler looked up at her with an odd expression on his face; something of surprise and something of compassion. The nurse swiftly turned back to the syringe of energon before he could see the tears forming in her eyes. The agent compassionately returned his attention to the children and let the slip go unmentioned.

"Energon time?" Skyfire asked hesitantly.

"You bet it is!" Fowler grinned at him. "Grandma's getting the yummy stuff all ready for you."

Oddly, the muscle in the woman's forehead twitched much harder at hearing the G-word from the agent than it had at her son's use.

"Not yummy!" Stormbreaker pouted. "Ouchie!"

"It hurts you?" Fowler asked with a startled frown.

"It burns inside," Comet offered from his perch on Fowler's shoulder. "It's good, but it burns." A small shiver ran the full length of his long glowing tail.

The man looked up at June with a furrowed brow.

"Mrs. Darby?"

"The pathogens that infect them feed on energon," the woman said as she drew a small amount of the latest batch of compound into a syringe. "Ratchet suspects that each new infusion boosts their energy levels and sends them into a feeding frenzy; increasing the sparklings' discomfort, especially around the joints."

"Increasing?"

"Yes," June said softly as she approached, "These little ones have been in pain from the moment they woke up in that pod, and before as well."

"That bas…" Fowler cut off his furious whisper and took a deep breath when he saw Skyfire flinch in his arms.

The sparkling looked up at him and gave the man a heartbreakingly beautiful smile. His little servos came up and patted the rough beard stubble on the agent's chin.

"It's okay Uncle Fowler," Sky said softly. "The medicine Uncle Sal gave Grandma makes us feel better. And Grandma and Daddy work very hard so it won't hurt." The little mech looked earnestly up into Fowler's eyes. "So please don't hurt for us," he pleaded softly.

The two humans stared in astonishment at the upturned faceplates.

"I," the man looked desperately at the nurse who only smiled and shook her head, "Okay little guy," he finally said. "I'll be happy if you just take your energon like a good little robot."

With another smile Skyfire buried his faceplates in the agent's wide chest and held out his arm dutifully. Fowler rested a hand on the round head breathing a bit raggedly. June gently took the sparkling's proffered arm and injected the mixture. The agent felt a brief shudder run through the little body then felt Sky snuggle closer into his chest.

"Kissy booboo?"

Fowler raised his eyebrows at June and she nodded. He carefully brought the little wrist joint up to his mouth and pressed his lips against the injection valve. The little mech let out a satisfied sigh and trilled happily.

"Now just hold him while I prepare Stormy's," June said.

The woman let her eyes linger on the pair for a moment longer, the man staring down at the infant in his arms with a look of wonder. She remembered that look, another time, another man, another child. Her eyes drifted over to where Jack still lay. With a firm shake of her head she brought her mind back to the present.

"They sure are snuggle bunnies," Fowler commented in amusement as Stormbreaker jockeyed for a position his lap at the same time Cometflare landed on his broad shoulders.

"Yes, Ratchet says that physical contact is every bit as important to Cybertronian young as it is to humans," the nurse explained.

"Huh," the man said in a thoughtful tone.

"What?"

"Oh, I was just wondering how that worked with all that hard armor," the agent mused. "It seems to me like there would be a lot of friction."

"They are just as compatible with each other as we are," June replied as she approached with the second syringe. "But Ratchet did tell me that when a Cybertronian adult imprints on a sparkling their mesh softens until the little one is past the infant stage and their first layer of adult armor grows in."

"How long is that?" Fowler asked with a frown.

"It varies from type to type and generation to generation. In the past it might have lasted decades for the larger forms, months or years for the smaller forms. This last generation, born during the war were only children for a few weeks. Bumblebee for instance if these three had been allowed to follow the normal course of development they would have had about the same."

"No real childhood? Tough breaks."

Fowler gently shifted Skyfire to his side and brought Stormbreaker into position. She shuttered her optics shyly up at him with a little smile before burying her faceplates in his chest.

"Yes," June murmured as she injected the solution. "Ratchet blames that for some of Bumblebee's current personality; how he has retained many childlike attributes even into full physical maturity."

"Hurts!" Stormy wailed and yanked her arm out of June's grasp.

The little fem held her clenched servo up to Fowler pouting.

"Kissy booboo!"

The man obliged and held the squirming sparkling as June prepared Cometflare's energon.

"You're using more," he noted.

"Yes, Cometflare's tail utilizes quite a bit of the energon to produce the necessary glide surface," she explained. "It's actually much larger than it looks. Our eyes can only see a portion of spectrum of the energy field."

"So their armor softens when they're caring for their young," the airman mused, bouncing Stormy up and down a bit. "That can't be very safe during a war."

"Indeed Agent Fowler," Ratchet's grim voice came over the comm., startling the man. "And the Decepticons made free use of this weakness. They would deliberately scan for the unique spark signatures of sparklings and then attack their Guardians. Those sparklings that survived the initial attack were stolen and raised as Cons."

June noted how Fowler's arms wrapped protectively around Stormy even as his face clouded with rage.

"Many good bots fell to those battles," the medic continued. "And the mortality rate among sparklings with broken imprints was high. Those who did survive were never right."

"So sparklings imprint on whoever they see first?" the agent asked.

"Essentially," the medic responded. "It is a bit more complex than that."

"So why didn't the imprint on Starscream in the first place?"

"We found evidence of an anti-imprinting program forced into their core processors," the medic snarled. "That," he paused for a moment and seemed to collect himself. "Starscream must have uploaded it from a distance once he located them. How he did that in the first place we'll never know. We watched the Well so closely. But it is why they cannot interact with other Cybertronians. The program is too deeply integrated in their CPU's to extract even if we had the time. We were simply lucky that their first contact was a human who was willing to accept them."

Skyfire let out a whimper and clutched the agent tighter.

"But we should probably not speak about him in front of the little ones anymore," June said.

Suddenly a disgruntled chirp sounded from over Fowler's head. The two humans started guiltily and June came over with his energon. Fowler swung him down to his lap. Unlike the other two the largest sparkling seemed eager for the infusion. He held out his wrist and watched in fascination as the glowing green liquid drained out of the syringe. But he still gladly accepted Fowlers snuggles and demanded a kiss at the end. With a final thankful chirp the glider uncoiled his tail and attempted to launch into the air. Only to meet with June's face as the nurse leaned over to hand Stormbreaker a new cookie.

"Ouchie!" Comet cried out as he dropped to the floor clutching his little servos to his head.

Stormbreaker and Skyfire immediately moved over to comfort their brother, chirping and crooning soothingly. Fowler gave June a worried glance but she waved his gaze away with an odd smile. There were impact tears in her eyes but otherwise she appeared to be fine.

"Uncle Fowler! Kissy his booboo please," Skyfire called out urgently while holding Comet's servos in his.

Fowler got up and bent over to deliver the specified medicine.

"Now hugsies," the littlest mech dictated.

The man obediently scooped the glider up in his arms.

"Now Grandma!"

June leaned over and the sparkling Fowler was holding and expertly kissed away the injury. The sparkling happily reached to rub the spot she'd kissed.

"Mrs. Darby!" Fowler said suddenly. "You're bleeding!"

"It's just a split lip," she said shaking her head.

"Grandma hurt?" Skyfire trilled in alarm.

"I'm okay Sky," she tried to comfort the distressed sparkling. "It's just a little cut."

"Grandma leaking!" Cometflare suddenly wailed looking at the small red smear on his servos.

"Uncle Fowler kissy booboo Grandma's ouchie!" Stormbreaker suddenly demanded.

The other two sparklings immediately trilled in agreement and looked at the agent expectantly.

"And hugsies too!" Skyfire pronounced firmly.

Fowler's face darkened in embarrassment and he began to stutter a bit. After a brief moment of surprise June let out a full bodied laugh. She picked up a piece of tissue and held it to her lip.

"It's fine kids. The leaking will stop in a minute."

"No!" Stormbreaker frowned, "Grandma hurt; Grandma needs kisseys!"

"Well, why don't you kissey her booboo yourself?" Fowler suggested, putting Comet down and holding the little fem up to Mrs. Darby.

"Good idea," June confirmed reaching out for her.

"No Uncle Fowler!" Stormy protested wriggling out of his grip and scampering down his leg to the floor. "Cybertronian kisseys no good. Need Earth kisseys! Why don't you give Grandma a kissey?"

"Yeah Uncle Fowler," a muffled but amused voice spoke up from across the room. "Why don't you give her a kiss?"

"Jack!" his mother called out in relief.

The sparklings let out happy squeals and rushed over to their father. June made sure to get there ahead of them and heard them into locations that wouldn't dislodge the near empty blood drip, before taking his vitals. Jack gingerly reached out with his untethered hand and stroked each of them in turn, murmuring a few words of comfort to each.

"How do you feel?" his mother asked.

"Like I got punched in the gut by Breakdown after running a marathon," Jack admitted candidly.

"Liver damage, blood loss, and lack of sleep," the nurse diagnosed with a reassuring smile. "The first will reverse itself pretty quickly because you're young, we've just doped you with a pint of red blood cells, and now that we've got a third helper for the duration you should be able to get a little more rest."

"Daddy! Make Uncle Fowler kissey Grandma's booboo," Skyfire suddenly interrupted, not to be deterred from his previous goal.

"Well I'm not certain that's what Grandma wants," Jack tried to calm the instant sparkling.

The other two began clamoring and insisting when Ratchet's harsh voice cut through the noise.

"I can assure you logic will not avail you at this point," the medic stated. "They have fixated on this and won't be deterred. This stress is not good for their spark chambers. I'd advise just humoring them for now."

Fowler looked uneasily between the nurse and her son for a moment. Jack gave a tired grin and a 'go ahead gesture'. June looked like she was about to burst out laughing at any second.

"A kiss for the sparklings," she said.

"For the sparklings," Fowler agreed quickly, and immediately regretted it. That made it sound like he couldn't think of any better reason for kissing the nurse, and he had several running through his head right now.

"Hugsies too," Skyfire reminded him.

The man gingerly reached out and wrapped his arms around the woman's shoulders. June leaned into the embrace and gave his ribcage an encouraging squeeze. Fowler took a deep calming breath and planted a quick peck on her lips. Her very soft lips; it registered as he backed away. June immediately turned to Skyfire and asked with amusement in her voice.

"Was that right?"

"That right," the sparkling nodded happily from his perch on Jack's stomach. "Grandma better now?"

"Yes sweetspark," she said with a smile. 'Much better,' she thought in the privacy of her own mind.

The sparklings immediately turned back to interrogating their father.

"Wait," Fowler tilted his head and frowned at something, "do you hear that?"

June listened for a moment and shook her head.

"I don't hear anything," she confessed.

"Exactly," the agent muttered striding over to the comm. "Miko stopped playing when we kissed. Miko!"

"Yeessssss," a sweet voice came over the audio.

"You had better not have taken a picture of…anything," he snarled, "everything that goes on in this chamber is, is highly classified!"

"Oh, I just bet it is," the girl giggled.

"Ratchet!" Fowler called out with just a hint of desperation in his voice.

"Miko give me that phone!" the medic ordered.

Sounds of a chase rang through the comm. for a few moments before it was interrupted by the blaring of an emergency alarm. They listened as Ratchet began communicating tersely with Optimus. The conversation held Fowlers attention, while June returned to giving Jack a through checkup.

"Well?" she asked when the man abandoned the comm.

"The usual," Fowler sighed. "They were in a tight spot and needed some recon. Ratchet got them out of it. What I don't get," the airman frowned, "is that from the reports Optimus has been giving me, they've been out on missions constantly for the past week and a half. But the amount of energon they're bringing in has actually dropped from what I've seen. At first I thought it was the sparklings but after seeing how little they need their appetites can't explain it."

June nodded her head to the side and Fowler followed her away from the sparklings.

"Starscream," she said softly as she began making dinner for Jack.

"I see," Fowler responded quietly. "They find the mad scientist and get him to hand over an antidote. Problem solved."

"It's not that straight forwarded," June murmured sadly. "The virus has progressed too far; the damage to their sparkchambers is irreversible at this point. But if others become infected, an antidote would be good. They also want to know if there were any more sparklings out there."

"Something's bothering you," the agent said suddenly, looking at the woman intently.

She laughed tiredly.

"My son just passed out mysteriously, my grandchildren are dying, oh, and I'm deeply involved in an alien civil war that has ravaged many planets! Could you be a little more specific?"

"The first one," he said after a moment's thought.

June stopped chopping carrots long enough to blink at him in surprise. Then she returned to her preparations.

"You're right there is something bothering me about that," she mused out loud. "He shouldn't have passed out like that."

Fowler arched an eyebrow at that.

"I know," June answered the skeptical look in frustration. "Alien virus, no telling the effects. But the root problems I do know well. What's more I know Jack. A few years back he got a bad lung infection. His oxygen levels were points lower than we saw today and he was still coherent. I've seen him sleep deprived as well, and emotionally stressed. I know this might just be a side effect of the pathogens but my instinct is telling me I'm missing something else; something big."

Fowler helped her carry over the tray. He thought about what she'd said. His mind drifted to Agent Johnson. That mysterious talking truck thing was involved in this. There might very well be things a scientific mind like June's, Mrs. Darby's, he chastised himself, would have a hard time accepting. He found himself watching the nurse as she moved and his train of thought derailed rather suddenly. Back at the bed Cometflare landed on his shoulder and looked interestedly down at the food.

"Ah ah, that's Jack's food," the agent murmured producing a cookie from his pocket and handing it to the happy sparkling.

The haunting guitar music started up again from outside. Fowler looked like he was about to say something but instead shook his head and pulled Cometflare down onto his lap.

"So, how exactly did this whole kissy booboo thing get started?" he asked, jiggling the sparkling up and down.

"It was something that Mom did for me when I was little," Jack explained around his food. "I started doing it for them when I saw how much the energon injections hurt them. It really seemed to help. Ratchet says that the warmth from our skin and the electromagnetic field produced by our nervous system is not only soothing but aids the imprinting process. They bond not only to my visual image, but to my own personal EM field as well. The density of nerves in human lips make the field strongest there."

"Interesting," Fowler said with the smile he'd perfected in long briefings when people in command were giving him way too much information.

"Alright, well, you need to catch up on your sleep kid," the agent said as he took back the empty plate.

"No," Jack stated as firmly as he could, trying to sit up straighter. "It could happen at any moment now and I don't want to waist a single moment with the sparklings."

Fowler gently but firmly pushed the young man back down onto his pillows.

"You'll be missing a lot more than moments if you drop again," he warned.

"Just sleep now Jack," his mother said carefully removing the now empty drip bag. "You will wake up refreshed when your body is ready and it will be much better for everyone. Especially the sparklings"

He looked like he was about to protest but a deep voice suddenly rang through the chamber.

"Jackson, listen to your mother. Rest now," Optimus ordered over the comm.

Jack blinked a few times wondering when the Prime had gotten back, but disobeying that voice really wasn't an option.

"Would you sing for me?" he finally asked. "That song you sang Raf and me back on Cybertron."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment, and then the Prime's resonant voice washed over the humans and sparklings. After a bit they could distinguish the higher pitch of Miko's guitar blending seamlessly with the Cybertronian music. Jack whispered goodnight to the sparklings and was out even before his head hit the pillow.

O

O

He was walking down a long cave. The floor was even and sandy and the walls were smooth, as if they had been carved by flowing water long ago. A soft orange light shone up ahead. Jack felt nervous. Something powerful was producing the light; something old and ageless. A familiar hand gripped his bicep reassuringly and he felt a wave of comfort from the presence. He walked more boldly forward into the light, driven by a sense of mission.

Eyes. Four burning eyes that looked deep into his mind. He shivered as they revealed him to himself.

"He is worthy, let him speak in voices of men and of angles for he has…"

O

O

Jack woke up with a gasp and shot up to a sitting position. Skyfire was on his chest, curled up in dormancy. The young man cradled the sparkling in one arm as he stood up. His mother and Agent Fowler were sitting asleep in their chair with a sparkling each. Jack shook off the memories of the odd dream quickly, but it left the oddest lingering sense of hope.


	14. Information

Dying Embers 14

Information

A Transformers Prime FanFiction

"And it's another Care Package!" Miko called out as she danced down the tunnel to the airlock.

She was enjoying her task as currier very much. Everyone seemed so depressed for some reason and it was driving her crazy. These mysterious boxes were the only thing that lifted the bleak mood for a brief time. The normally truculent Johnson had seemed to come to terms with his task as parcel carrier and calmly met her at the other side of the groundbridge at least once a day. Somewhat to her disappointment he seemed utterly nonplused at dealing with a small teenage girl. She was used to getting a bigger rise out of people than that.

The meeting place was a disappointment as well. Instead of a gleaming federal office or a dark and mysterious back alley the groundbridge let her out into an adequately lit storage area framed in plain tan lumber. One wall had a shop door with a few small windows but it was always dark outside when she arrived. The many shelves and storage areas were crowded with sturdy camping gear, scientific equipment, work battered nets, and enough worn hip-waders to outfit an army of fishermen. The entire place smelled strongly of rotting fish and science. Johnson would come out of a locked door in his rumpled three piece suite, they would exchange parcels, she would make some cheerful comment, and his heavy scowl would cow her into silence until he disappeared. He was a bit overwhelming she had to admit.

The girl dropped the heavy grey box down onto the trolley and gave it a good shove into the airlock. She turned and shot back down the corridor Bulkhead was back at base and enjoying a rare day off. Granted he'd tangled with a few too many Cons and was resting in the medbay, but they could still play music and video games.

O

O

"Good things from Uncle Zech and Sal!" Cometflare eagerly announced as Fowler pulled the trolley into the chamber.

Jack smiled up at him from where he was stacking blocks with Skyfire in his lap. The glider swung gracefully around to coast over the moving box. He was gaining skill every hour it seemed to his adoring father. Jack found himself wondering how long it would take the sparkling to be able to launch himself completely unassisted and banished the thought. Focus on the moment, he reminded himself as he swallowed a lump in his throat.

"Let Grandma open it first," Stormbreaker ordered pertly. "She has to get all the science type stuff out."

"More cookies?" Skyfire asked eagerly, peering around Jack's shoulder but not wanting to give up his seat.

"Yeah the old ones don't taste too good anymore," the larger biped pointed out holding up a soggy disk of well chewed wood.

June grinned as she opened the container and pulled out the cardboard box it contained. The woman gave it an experimental shake before delicately sniffing the edges. All three sparklings were watching eagerly now. She carefully examined the clear tape sealing the box shut and slowly unfolded a pocket knife. The little ones began to quiver in anticipation. With utmost care June slid the blade under the flaps and pulled the box open.

The top layer was newspaper packing. Fowler stepped forward to claim that, heedfully smoothing each sheet for later reading. Next came the letters. One was from Johnson to Fowler; no doubt a list of all of the terrible but vague things that would happen if word of the Franklins' collaboration got out. A letter from Sal for the nurse detailing what he thought the properties of the latest batch of compound would be. For try as hard as he might the big rig couldn't get it the same twice in a row. It always worked well to sooth the infants, but not always as expected. The thickest letter was addressed to Jack. He snagged it gratefully as an excuse to put down his cookie.

For baring the container of Sal's compound, the larger box was mainly full of smaller cardboard boxes labeled in careful handwriting as; Fir/silver/mint, Pine/silver/clove, Hickory/gold/tea tree. These immediately produced a chorus of happy trills from the sparklings. June tossed a package to Jack who in turn handed them out. As usual they insisted that Daddy take one as well. The odd thing was, the human mused as he swallowed, he was actually starting to like the things.

Mrs. Darby took a brief rest from the scientific apparatus to listen to Jack read the missive. It was manly directed at the sparklings. Both Sal and Zech wrote long personal notes to the children. Reading them had become a daily tradition over the past week. The little ones listened closely, chewing their cookies, as the two brothers answered the questions Jack had written into their letters the day before. Then came the stories. Mostly they were tales of the Franklin clan, historical and otherwise; starting with the famous Founding Father himself and following the lineage through generations of adventures of near constant pioneering. There were a few more fanciful narratives, fables of talking ravens and wolves from the northland. June smiled at those, it made the children happy.

At the end of the letter reading the letter writing began. Jack sat at the table and carefully wrote out the sparklings' responses, editing for security but not grammar. Once that was done the old letters were tossed in the incinerator and the new letters packaged to be sent the next day.

When the last packet was sealed the sparklings scattered. Cometflare launched into the air with a small assist from Jack. Sky scampered up to sit on Jacks shoulders, the better to watch everything. Stormy trotted over to June to offer her 'help'. The nurse handed her the now empty box to put in the incinerator. The little fem started in that direction but stopped half way. June watched as she peered into the box in confusion and a frown of thought, that the woman swore made her look like her father, creased the sparkling's face.

"Grandma? What's this?" she asked.

"What's what?" June replied.

"The things in the box."

"In the box? I thought it was empty."

The woman crossed to where the sparkling stood and looked into the container. She frowned as she reached in and pulled out three, things. Odd, the woman would have sworn the box was empty when she handed it to Stormy. Each of the odd items was hung on a thin leather strip. They were vaguely egg shaped, covered in macramé, and about the size of a golf ball. The inner material appeared to be some kind of stone but it was light as wood.

"Those are for the sparklings," said an odd voice behind her.

June jumped a bit and glanced up at her son wondering when he had moved.

"Sounds right," Fowler agreed, coming closer to examine the objects curiously, "one necklace thingy for each of them."

The agent reached out to them, oddly fascinated by the patterns he saw peeking through the woven hemp.

"Don't touch them," Jack said urgently.

The man's hand snapped back in surprise as Jack reverently lifted the collars from his mother's fingers. The young man selected one as the older two humans watched in equal parts confusion and fascination. He set the tip of his index finger against the smooth surface of the core where it was exposed and rubbed his thumb lightly against another spot on the opposite side.

"Skyfire," Jack called out softly as he moved toward the bed.

The littlest sparkling followed him unhesitatingly to the cot and climbed into his lap. The human closed his eyes and seemed to focus on something for a moment before he began to gently stroke the sparkling's chest plates just above his spark chamber. Finally Jack tied the collar around Sky's neck. One by one he called each of the others over and gave them the same treatment. When he was done he glanced up to see both his mother and the agent staring at him a bit oddly.

"It's an old tradition Zech told me about, once," Jack explained with a shrug, "for good luck."

The two humans nodded in understanding and returned to their work. Jack frowned to himself; he knew Zech had taught him that, but when exactly? His train of thought was derailed by a clattering sound from across the room and by the time he untangled Stormy the thought had completely escaped him.

O

O

Optimus Prime rolled through the ground bridge, his mind already shifting from the responsibilities of the battlefield to the duties of the hanger. He transformed and slowed down barely long enough for Ratchet to check him for injuries. There were none of any consequence; a few mesh abrasions on his forearm armor that would self repair before long. The leader of the Autobots was going over the list of reports he was going to have to file for the human governments when a familiar voice caught his audio receptor.

"But when are they going to be able to come out and play?" Miko was wailing as she entered the main silo on Bulkhead's shoulder. "They like my music. They like ME! And they are too cute for words. I want to play with them right now."

"We just don't know," the green mech replied uneasily.

"Aggghhh!" the girl let out a mock snarl of exasperation and smacked the warrior's jaw. "That's what you've been saying for two weeks now and I'm,"

"Bulkhead," Optimus said quietly, interrupting the dramatic tirade. "You haven't told her yet?"

The massive mech flinched as if his commander had struck him and glanced quickly away from the girl next to his head.

"Haven't told me what?" Miko demanded glancing back and forth between the two mechs' optics; not liking what she saw in either.

"May I assume that Raf has not been informed either?" the Prime queried.

"I, I don't know how much Bee's told him," Bulkhead muttered truthfully, looking at the hard concrete floor of the silo.

If he were human Optimus would have let out a sigh at this point. Instead he only gave the small human a long deep look.

"Where are Bumblebee and Raf?" he finally asked.

"Back working on repairs to the emergency shut off valves in section C," Miko offered quickly, eager to say something to break the uncomfortable silence. Something cold and hard was building in her stomach.

The Last of the Primes sent a comm. signal to Bumblebee; telling him to report to the main silo immediately. It took perhaps three minutes for the yellow mech to arrive with Raf, but it seemed like an eternity to the waiting girl. Those minutes gave the Prime time to carefully consider his words and actions. When Bee stood by Bulkhead Optimus wordlessly held out his servos, palms up. Without question both children climbed into his hands and kneeled looking up at him. The two smaller mechs squirmed and exchanged uncomfortable glances. Both were glad their leader had taken this burden off of them; both felt guilty for not being able to do it themselves.

"Miko, Rafael," he began gently, "you know that the sparklings are very ill?"

"Yes, but they're getting better, right?" Raf asked quickly.

Optimus let his optics linger on the boy a moment. He suspected the sensitive and observant child had noted the atmosphere among the bots and perhaps guessed at the reason.

"Overall their bodies are getting stronger and growing again, yes," the Prime affirmed. Then, as gently as he could he explained the sparklings' condition.

He watched as their eyes widened in shock and denial, listened patiently as Miko lashed out and berated him for not telling them sooner, softly cradled the girl to his chest when she broke down in tears. Raf just quietly leaned his forehead against the mech's chestplate and let silent tears course down his cheeks. When the first wave of grief had subsided Optimus handed them back to their guardians to find what comfort they could in each other's presence. With a heavy spark he turned back to the comm. panel for the isolation chamber.

O

O

"So do you think I should tell them?" Jack asked softly.

The sparklings were currently being entertained by Fowler. The man had Stormbreaker on his lap and was tickling her until her happy giggles filled the base. Skyfire was excitedly running circles around the chair while Cometfalre circled overhead chirping in amusement.

Their father had been wondering about this question for days now, and Miko's reaction to finding out the reality of the matter had brought it to a head in his mind. The two teenagers had had a long heartbreaking talk after the Prime had broken the news to her. It had surprised Jack. He had no idea how deep the impulsive Asian could be. She had shown a depth of character and inner strength that had amazed him. After no little internal debate he had decided to seek Optimus's wisdom.

"Can you see any benefit to them knowing?"

It wasn't a mere rhetorical question Jack realized with a sinking feeling. Optimus respected the fact that the young human was the sparklings' father, their Guardian. He could already hear the deep voice informing him that ultimately the choice would be his. There would be no escaping the decision by passing it off on the Autobot. Jack took a long breath and stared at his children.

"Yes," he finally said softly, "yes, I think it would be good. Ratchet said it would happen randomly. I don't want them to be scared of the future but I also don't want the other two to be completely unprepared when their sibling…" a lump formed in his throat and the human swallowed roughly.

"Jackson," Optimus's rich deep voice came through the speakers and the young man looked into his optics. There was such warmth and compassion in those deep wells, but right now it could do little to comfort the human. There were some pains, Jack was realizing, that could not be alleviated. They could only be survived.

"I'll figure something out and tell them tomorrow," Jack said gazing longingly at the happy sparklings.

They looked so healthy. They were growing stronger every day. The human felt a sympathetic throb of pain in his heart where his mind told him the sparklings spark chambers were damaged. He signed off with Optimus and walked over to play. His decision hung over him but he managed to banish it in the joy of the moment. He tossed the India rubber ball up into the air and watched as Cometflare fumbled it. The bright red sphere fell down and Stormbreaker snatched it up. She was about to toss it to Skyfire when the littlest mech suddenly spoke up.

"Daddy okay?"

Both June and Fowler were suddenly intently focused on Jack; who was absently rubbing his chest with a faint but pained expression on his face.

"I'm fine," he assured them all, quickly. "It's just a bit of chest pain.

That was the wrong thing to say he realized suddenly. It was never a good thing when his mother came at him with her nurse face on like she was now, and he had the feeling Fowler would follow her orders to a 'T' where medicine was concerned. The agent grasped his arm in a friendly but firm manner and steered him towards the chair. June already had the scanner tuned and humming.

"Seriously, I'm fine," Jack protested to no avail.

He was sitting with the scanning lights running over him before he even fully knew what was going on. The young man leaned back with a sigh and decided to just wait it out. He was about to lean back in the chair when a sudden tearing pain seared through him. It almost blacked him out with its intensity. But a greater pain kept him conscience.

"Cometflare!" he screamed out in agony and lunged from the chair as glider suddenly plummeted to the floor.


	15. Heartbreak

Dying Embers 15

Heartbreak

A Transformers Prime FanFiction

A shining silver dinner car sat just off the highway in the low spruce scrub. Outside one dusty gunmetal grey semi sat surrounded by a flock of gleaming Harleys. Inside Zechariah Franklin was heartily laughing at something one of the bikers had said while attacking a plate of salmon. Suddenly the young man stopped talking and clutched at his chest with a deep breath as his eyes glazed over in pain. A few of his companions jokingly suggested that he stop inhaling his food. The trucker smiled weakly and excused himself from the booth. One of the middle aged men who knew Zech better than the others quietly followed him out to his rig.

The graying man stood silently and watchfully by as Zech fell against Sal's hood breathing raggedly. A long black tentacle snaked out to drop around the human's shoulders comfortingly. There was pain in the younger man's face but no urgency. Whatever had just transpired had been expected.

"Do you need to talk about it?" the older man asked sliding his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket.

Zech shook his head and smiled up sadly at him.

"I'll be fine Uncle Tommy. My friend's child just left his mortal shell," he explained.

"A Clan member?"

"No."

"Then why were you bound so closely that you felt the passing?" the older man asked with a frown.

"The circumstances required it," Zech offered vaguely. "Listen, I have to go south now. I'll be back in a week or so."

"See you then," the older man said, accepting the end of the conversation.

O

O

Jack didn't so much catch the falling sparkling as the two fell to the concrete floor together. He must have blacked out at some point because he came to vaguely aware that his mother and Fowler were calling his name. He blinked back to awareness and realized his arms were wrapped tightly around Cometflare's torso. The long beautiful tail lay limply across the floor, the brilliant colors retreating from the edges. Almost faster than his mind could register the lights faded to nothingness, leaving only the silver segmented frame.

The human forced himself to look into the sparkling's optics. A faint blue flicker quivered and then extinguished in their depths. Jack felt thousands of tiny joints go limp and the ever present hum of energon through mesh still as Comet's gleaming silver faded to gunmetal grey.

"Jack!"

Someone was shaking him. The young man suddenly drew in a gasp of air. When had he stopped breathing?

"Jack," Agent Fowler called again loudly. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes," he whispered, not taking his eyes off the motionless form of his child's body.

He let the larger man lift him to a sitting position. Worried voices swirled around him. Ratchet was saying something urgently through the comm. There was an emptiness in the human; he knew he should be feeling something right now but there was only a dull grey void surrounding a throbbing pain. Fowler was trying to tell him something but Jack didn't respond until the agent tried to take Cometflare's frame from him. His arms tightened around the little body that suddenly felt so terribly light.

His mother joined the agent now they were explaining something about the ruptured generators still producing and leaking pathogens and the compound only working in living energon. Jack understood. They had discussed this before. The contaminated frame had to be isolated in a container, a coffin, prepared especially for this purpose. Fowler was gently but firmly trying to remove the limp frame from his arms again.

"No," Jack finally managed to gasp out. "No," again but more firmly. "I will do it."

He stood. Now that he had a clear task the fog in his mind began to disperse. He glanced over at the other two sparklings. They were huddled together on the cot, shock and confusion on their faceplates. Jack looked at his mother. The experienced trauma nurse nodded in understanding and moved over to stay with Sky and Stormy. Fowler walked ahead silently and opened the container.

It was a light military grey and about the size of a small cooler. The outside was decorated with various labels warning of nuclear waste. The inside was lined with epoxy sealed wood. It seemed so wrong to lay the little one's body to rest in such a utilitarian looking thing. Jack understood that it was the best they could do on short notice. But his heart still rebelled at the sight. Gritting his teeth he returned his attention to the task at hand.

Tenderly, he folded the two little arms over the broken spark chamber. It took some effort to gather up the long impossibly thin tail and roll it back into the resting position. Jack accepted Fowler's silent offer of help and soon the appendage rested gently against the tiny servos. The young man lovingly placed the little one in the small coffin. Almost unconsciously his hand slipped in and removed the leather collar. He bent over the lightless optics one last time and laid a kiss on Comet's head, then placed the lid and sealed the container.

Fowler stepped forward and offered a few words of comfort. Jack gave a small weak smile and nodded but he didn't really hear them. While he tried to listen his fingers tied the leather strap to his forearm, making sure the largest exposed area of the pendant's core rested snuggly against warm, thin skin of his inner wrist. When that was done he shifted out from under Fowler's hand

"They need me," he explained, gesturing to the sparklings huddled on June's lap.

When he sat down next to his mother both little ones rushed onto his lap whimpering.

"Why Daddy put Comet into the box?" Stormbreaker finally asked.

"Cometflare," the words stuck harshly in Jack's throat. Why had he put this off for so long? "He went offline," he said weakly.

June placed a supportive hand on his shoulder. The young man had asked Optimus about this, had studied so he would know what to say when the time came. But now the words felt so inadequate, meaningless to the little ones. He could see the confusion in their optics, the fear. Helplessness welled up in the human.

"Your brother," Jack started again. "He has gone away. To a place called the Well of Allsparks."

"Cometflare's in the box," Stormy protested, pointing to the grey coffin.

Jack pulled her close and wrapped his arms around the sparkling.

"He's not in there anymore Stormy. He's gone."

"Call him on the comm.," Skyfire suggested helpfully.

"The comm. doesn't reach to the Well of Allsparks Sky," Jack said gently.

The two sparklings looked at each other in confusion.

"We get in the box and go to the Well with Cometflare," Stormbreaker finally stated firmly trying to scramble in the direction of the grey container.

"No!" Jack called out frantically, desperately clutching his daughter closer.

"But I wanna be with Comet!" she protested, panic rising in her voice.

"Me too Daddy," Skyfire whispered.

Their brother was a part of their world, a third of the bond they shared that had been the only constant over their short lives before they imprinted. To be separate from him was unthinkable. The truth would comfort them Jack knew. He drew a deep ragged breath.

"Just be patient. Right now you have to stay here with Daddy," he whispered pulling them both close. "I'm not exactly sure when but soon," his voice cracked over the word, "soon you will go to the Well too."

"You promise Daddy?" Stormy demanded. "You promise we'll be with Cometflare?"

A painful smile bloomed under the tears that were running freely down Jack's face.

"I promise," he breathed.

O

O

Miko and Raf utterly refused to leave the base. They called their parents and arranged for a sleepover at the Darby's to welcome Jack back from Haiti. Both sets readily agreed on hearing Mrs. Darby would be chaperoning. Raf spent some time chatting with Sky and Miko played her guitar. The two remaining sparklings seemed to fid great comfort in the haunting melody she had first played for them. Raf tried to ask her to stop when he noticed the tips of her fingers bleeding slightly but she shot him such a vicious look that he didn't bring it up again.

Children of any species were amazingly resilient, Jack realized as he held Skyfire and Stormy while they listened intently to a story Fowler was telling. They were quieter than usual, at least Stormy was, and they kept glancing longingly at the grey box but other than that they went on much as they had before. The human felt an aching void inside every time his eyes fell on that same box, but the voice of Optimus kept whispering through his mind, telling him he had to stay strong for the sparklings' sake. Right now that was the only thing keeping him from curling up in a fetal position on the hard floor and crying like a baby. He just wanted to hold onto them, to this moment forever.

But time passes, weather one human is ready for it too or not. It was around breakfast the next morning. Stormy and Sky were chewing on fresh cookies; chirping over how good this last batch of oil tasted when the larger fem frowned and placed a hand over her chestplates. Jack felt a familiar throb of pain and was at her side in an instant. The human handed Skyfire over to his mother and snatched his sister up. She turned curious optics up to his face and her little mouth opened to ask what was the matter, and then the pain came.

Jack was prepared for it this time. The pain may have been greater, or maybe he was simply more aware of it this time. Either way the human felt something rupture in his chest, felt the little star pulse brightly then fall out of its place. Then it was gone from him. He was on his knees this time, cradling Stormy's still form in his arms. His heart was pounding and seemed to be missing beats.

With Fowlers assistance he got shakily to his feet. The other two adults were about to start speaking but Jack looked straight into his mother's eyes.

"Please don't," he requested softly.

"Don't what?" Fowler asked in confusion.

The nurse shifted Skyfire to her hip and rested a finger gently on the agent's lips. The man took the hint and opened the second grey container without comment. He didn't like the empty look in Jack's eyes as the younger man laid the little body to rest. Fowler was a soldier. He had seen men dealing with loss before; he had dealt with loss before, but this was different. He had never before seen someone so emotionally wrung out, not and still functioning. But as soon as Jack had removed the pendant from Stormy and affixed it next to the other on his wrist he simply walked back to Mrs. Darby and gathered the last sparkling up in his arms.

Ratchet's voice called the nurse over to the comm. and she walked across the room. Jack sat down with Skyfire in his lap and began to rock back and forth slowly. The airman felt utterly helpless as he watched the scene unfold around him. He stood in the face of Jack's courage and was amazed. To face impossible odds was one thing, to stand so strong when you knew the battle was already lost was another entirely. His train of thought was broken when the nurse called him over. He cursed inwardly when he saw the look on her face. There was a new fear there.

"What is it?" he whispered softly with a quick glance at Jack.

"I had Nurse Darby take readings of Jack's heart to confirm something I noticed when Cometflare's spark chamber burst," Ratchet's voice came hushed over the comm. "Unfortunately my initial observations proved correct," the medic said grimly. "Please turn you attention to the diagrams. This," a silver sphere studded with various ports appeared on the screen, "is an approximate recreation of how Comet's chamber split."

The ball fractured and cracked open.

"At the same instant this occurred Jack's heart underwent a massive energy surge on the cellular level. I'm not sure how he is even alive, the disruption was far greater than any a human body should have been able to withstand according to all the literature I have studied."

'Textbooks tell lies' a faint memory of a quote flitted through the agent's mind carrying with it the scent of death and pain. He refocused on what Ratchet was saying.

"The disruption left an area of damage along Jack's pericardium,"

"His what?" Fowler asked with a frown.

"The lining of the heart. Its sheath," June explained.

"The organic structure analogous to the Cybertronian spark chamber," Ratchet said flatly. "This is the damage pattern the stress left on it."

Another diagram appeared next to the ruptured spark chamber. Fowler studied it with a frown. At first he didn't understand what the Autobot expected him to see. But then it clicked; despite the two organs having slightly different shapes, the damage was identical in placement and pattern. Fowler drew in his breath.

"I see."

"And this was when Stormbreaker's burst," another sphere appeared on the other side of Jack's heart. This one too split open and again the corresponding region of the center image showed damage.

"What is this?" Fowler demanded in a whisper.

"In all my eons of experience I have not seen anything like it save once," Ratchet stated. "Split spark twins show the same behavior. But in that case what is fatal to the one is fatal to the other as well."

"But Jack's not even Cybertronian," June finally spoke up.

"I know! There is no logical explanation for what we are witnessing. No connection that would explain it. A psychosomatic muscle spasm might have damaged Jack's heart but not this precisely. And the damage is not all. There is an odd energy signature being generated in his sinoatrial node that perfectly matches the spark pulse of a sparkling."

"That can't be good for him," Fowler murmured.

"It's not," June confirmed. "But there is nothing we could do that would not be worse for him. A defibrillator might end the odd pulses but would be too damaging for his heart in its current state."

"There is nothing we can do but wait and watch," Ratchet said grimly.

An alarm could be heard blaring in the back ground and Ratchet expanded Fowler's Cybertronian vocabulary for a moment.

"Go Ratchet," June said gently.

The medic turned with a guilty look to address the problem. The alarm ended and in the silence Miko's soft music came soothingly over the comm. June let out a painful sigh and rubbed her eyes. Fowler dropped an arm around her shoulders and she leaned into his comforting mass.

"Uncle Fowler," Skyfire's tentative voice broke the moment. "Tell a story?"

Fowler pinned on his best grin and walked over to the little one. He launched into one of his favorite stories with everything he had. It was a long involved one that his father had learned from his grandfather and so on and so on for several generations. When he reached the end he glanced down to see how his audience was liking it. Jack had pulled Sky's faceplate into his chest and was carefully tying the little one's pendant next to the other two. Fowler's voice caught in his throat as he noted the dull color of the sparkling's exposed mesh. Jack looked at him with equally dull eyes.

"It wasn't as bad this time," he said in a frighteningly empty voice.

One last time the agent helped him out of his chair and over to the grey boxes. They secured Skyfire beside his siblings and the tears that fell on the little one were not Jack's alone.

"Ratchet!" the agent called out. "Begin the final decontamination."

A harsh blue light flooded the chamber, throwing everything into sharp contrast. June was suddenly there, her arms around her son offering silent support, and this time when Fowler embraced them both there was no awkwardness in the touch. The three humans held each other until the bright light faded. They came apart and shifted around aimlessly for a moment. The agent gently took Jack by the shoulder and led him towards the exit with June on the other side.

"I need to report into my superiors," he said matter-of-factly. "I'll have the final drafts of your cover story to you within twenty four hours. Please do not leave the base until then." He went on for several minutes about such mundane matters as the approached the silo proper. June cast a thankful glance at the man. As a nurse she knew that getting back into the normal rhythms of life were essential for healing after a tragedy, and she didn't know if she had it in her to restart their lives on her own. She was dreading that he would have to return to the shadowy world of his agency, both for Jack's sake and her own.

Arcee met them at the end of the tunnel.

"Jack," she said a bit awkwardly.

He blinked at her in return and reached out. That small movement was all the sleek cyclebot needed. She swept him up in a hug and just held onto the human. Jack didn't exactly return the gesture, but he didn't reject it either. He just accepted her compassion; let it wash over his numb heart. June smiled at the scene as it dawned on her that even without Fowler they were not on their own after all.

O

O

"It won't fly," Miko said over a mouthful of pizza.

"What do you mean young lady?" Fowler growled.

The agent hefted a thick file. Six hours had passed and as promised the man had returned with two near perfect cover stories for the two human's absence for two weeks.

"All the research is here, all the documents are here, and both of them are perfectly capable of carrying it off."

"Look at them!" Miko said in exasperation, pointing at the mother and son talking quietly with Ratchet by the main computer. "They are supposed to have been on a tropical island for the past two weeks? They are both pale as ghosts. Jack especially. "

On consideration Fowler had to agree. Just over two weeks in a cave had left the two Caucasians with a decidedly unhealthy pallor.

"So what do we do about it genius?" he asked half serious.

O

O

"You know," the agent said to June as they set up a tent in a hanging valley east of Jasper. "Miko can be surprisingly helpful when she wants to be."

Scrub pines and mesquite stretched around the small clearing. A spring at one end kept the grass in this little pocket green year round. The Nevada sun, powerful even in January at this latitude and elevation burned down on them. In a day or two at most they would be more than sufficiently tanned to match their stories. The light reflected off Arcee's armor at the far end of the clearing. She and Jack were just sitting by the clear pool of water talking quietly. After a few more minutes the agent couldn't find any more chores to assist June with and bridged back to base. The woman gave the other two their privacy and spent the rest of the afternoon studying her file.

The night came quickly in the high mountains of Nevada. As soon as dinner was eaten and the dishes washed June fell into an exhausted sleep on a soft sandy patch under a ledge. Arcee crossed her legs and sat down beside Jack next to the spring as the stars came out. He was lying down and his eyes were closed but she could tell by his ragged breathing that he wasn't asleep.

Jack tossed and turned as the full moon rose over the range of peaks. The last moments of the little ones kept playing over in his mind. Time heals all wounds, his mother had told him once. But the deep well of pain that he had discovered seemed inexhaustible. On top of that there was a nagging feeling running through his brain. There was something he needed to do urgently for the sparklings, he felt the need to contact Zech. Jack shook his head firmly and dug his fingers into the hard sand. The children were beyond his help now, and there was no more reason to bother the agents for communication. Fowler had promised to inform the Franklin brothers of everything that had happened.

He was just about to get up and get another drink from the spring when a powerful hand clamped down on his mouth and another pinned him to the ground. He tried to struggle but he was still very week. Why wasn't Arcee reacting? But a familiar voice gently shushed him. Jack stopped writhing and looked up in astonishment at Zech's grinning face in the moonlight reflected off the pool. The trucker released him and silently beckoned for the younger man to follow him. Bewildered but trusting, Jack got up as quietly as he could and tagged along after the moonlight gleaming off Zech's old leather jacket.

How had the trucker even gotten here? There wasn't a path up this mountain that a goat could climb let alone a human in heavy work boots and jeans. There had been no groundbridge. How had Zech found him for that matter? They entered the mesquite scrub and there was no time for thinking, all of Jack's attention was on following the impossibly thin path. They came out on a cliff overlooking a deep valley, but it wasn't the view that made Jack catch his breath.

Sitting at the edge of the cliff was the largest wolf Jack had ever seen. It stood easily at tall as Zech's hip and a long bushy tail swept the ground behind it. Scars from countless battles crisscrossed his muzzle before disappearing into a thick mane of fur and golden eyes burned out of his face. Zech strode up to the creature and threw a leg over his back. The trucker glanced back at the stunned Jack and called out.

"Come on! The sparklings don't have much time! The Wolf Moon approaches its zenith!"


	16. Here there be Dragons

Dying Embers 16

Here there be Dragons

A Transformers Prime FanFiction

"Is he safe?" Jack gasped out, finally settling on the most practical of the questions swirling through his mind.

"No man cub," growled the creature turning to face the startled human. "I hunt creatures that would devour you in a moment for the sport of it. I have slain man and woman alike in the darkness of winter and the summer sun. I am by no means safe."

"But he has goodness," Zech pointed out, fondly rubbing the creature ears.

The wolf accepted the caress and looked at Jack again.

"Why do you hesitate man cub? They grow weaker by the moment."

"But the sparklings are off… I mean they're dead," the young man said, tears of frustration pooling in his eyes. "I watched them pass."

"There is no time to explain Smith," Zech said urgently holding out his hand. "Let me put it this way. You are being offered a chance to go riding around the desert, on the night of the full Wolf Moon, on the back of the Wondrous Creature Amarok. Come on, are you really going to say no?"

Jack gaped at him for a moment, ran his eyes over the glistening fangs and glowing eyes, and burst out laughing. He grasped the trucker's forearm and leap up onto Amarok's back in front of him.

"Hold on with your legs and burry your fingers in his undercoat," he heard from behind him as the creature stood, but Jack wasn't really paying attention.

He was reasonably sure that when he had agreed to get on the wolf was big, but still within the normal range of canine biology. Once Amarok was on his feet he was easily three times higher than Arcee's alt mode, and his ribcage was like a fifty gallon drum covered in fur so thick Jack's fingers couldn't reach the skin underneath. The mighty creature suddenly crouched and leapt off into the dark valley hundreds of feet below.

Both young men began to yell, Jack in terror, Zech in glee. It registered in Jack's mind that the fall was a bit too slow to be pure freefall, but when the massive paws hit the valley floor it still sent a shockwave up his spine. The wolf began loping up the next mountain. The young man clung tightly to his fur and simply focused on staying on at first.

"Amazing isn't it?" Zech shouted over the rushing wind.

Jack opened his eyes and looked around shakily. It was amazing. The high arid mountains lay about them glowing under the light of the full moon. Shadows stretched out from gnarled old pines and seemed to move and dance as they rushed past. It suddenly occurred to Jack that he wasn't holding on as tightly any longer. It really wasn't that different from riding with Arcee, just lean into the turns and rise and fall with the rhythm of the wolf's loping stride. He leaned back and began to enjoy the ride. Range after range passed under the creature's paws until they came to a wide river. A level sandy plane stretched out on either bank for as far as the eye could see. Amarok skidded to a stop beside the lapping water and both humans tumbled off laughing.

Zech leaned against the wolf for a moment; who now stood as high as the trucker's head at the shoulder, and stared across the water. Jack decided to ignore the question of the canid's mass for the moment and followed his gaze. The river was alive with movement, ripples that threw the moonlight and starlight back up to the heavens and the music of the water filled the night.

"What are we doing here?" Jack finally asked."Don't get me wrong the wolf ride was amazing," Amarok grinned in acknowledgment, "but you said something about the sparklings?"

"We are waiting," Zech said simply, "but we need to prepare. Come here."

Jack followed the trucker away from Amarok out onto the moonlit plane. The older man took up a piece of driftwood and drew a small circle in the sand.

"Put the pendants equidistant around this," he instructed.

Jack clamped his free hand protectively over the three on his wrist.

"No," he said flatly, not certain why he did.

Zech smiled at him compassionately and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Trust me Jack. I know you don't want to. I know it feels wrong, but feelings can be deceiving; trust me, and take them off."

With a painful sigh Jack removed the mementoes from his wrist and set them in the circle.

"Now build a nest around them," Zech instructed.

Jack was confused and dead tired by this time all he wanted to do was go to sleep but he forced himself to take his time and craft the sand, wood, and stones into a little nest. He even found a few scraps of metal to add to the form. He asked Zech to go for water a few times to solidify the outer ring and when he finally rocked back on his heels he was pleased with what he had constructed. Zech handed him a razor sharp bowie knife.

"Now cut the second thickest cord near the top on each one," Zech instructed glancing over his shoulder at the river.

The stubborn feeling rose again but Jack shoved it down. He trusted Zech and he was going to follow through with this. The young man carefully selected what looked like the second largest cord but hesitated.

"What happens if I cut the wrong one?" he asked.

"It's macramé," Zech explained with a shrug, "you get this wrong and we get to spend about three hours untangling the weave the hard way."

Jack nodded and slit the cord of each in turn. At first nothing happened, but then the core of the pendants seemed to grow. The hemp weave unraveled with a snap and three eggs sat on a bed of twine in a sandy nest. One was ebony with silver lines running across it; one was a creamy white with the same silver lines like a map of rivers, the third was banded like the surface atmosphere of Jupiter, it also showed the silver. Jack sat back on his heels and decided that nothing more could happen to surprise him this night.

"Now," Zech said with a tough of that smugness that people get when they are about to make someone the love very, very happy. "Step back and _look _at them."

Jack stood and took a step back. He closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. The young man focused and soon the extra awareness filled his senses. Even without his eyes open he could sense the wild power of the wolf nearby. There were other things as well both light and dark, and directly in front of him…

Jack let out a cry and fell to his knees. The sight faded when he lost his concentration. He reached out and tenderly stroked the eggs. The young man focused again and let his eyes open to a beautiful sight. Glowing in the center of each egg was a small star.

"How?" he whispered in awe.

"Well, I already explained it to you once so how about I just comb your hair instead?" Zech asked with a grin, pulling out a comb of bone carved with a wolf motif.

Jack opened his mouth to ask what the trucker meant by that, but then glanced back at the steadily glowing sparks. Trusting his friend seemed to work out. He shrugged his shoulders and said,

"Comb away."

Zech knelt down and swiftly undid a small braid at the base of Jack's skull. He gave the comb one quick swipe through the black hair and stepped back.

O

O

_Jack was lying in the isolation chamber, Miko's music drifting through the speakers. He didn't know what had woken him but Fowler and his mother were sound asleep in their chairs. He stood up and smiled down at the sparklings, still in dormancy. He was about to get a drink when the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. _

_Slowly and deliberately Jack turned around. The wall was opening. The plastic didn't tear, the rock didn't crumble. It looked like space itself was opening onto a long tunnel. Suddenly Jack smiled. Zech was standing on the other side looking worn out but triumphant. He beckoned for Jack to come to him and the younger man obeyed. The trucker took Jack's arm and led him down the tunnel. _

_They were walking down a long cave. The floor was even and sandy and the walls were smooth, as if they had been carved by flowing water long ago. A soft orange light shone up ahead. Jack felt nervous. Something powerful was producing the light; something old and ageless. A familiar hand gripped his bicep reassuringly and he felt a wave of comfort from the presence. He walked more boldly forward into the light, driven by a sense of mission._

_They came out into a cavern lit by torches placed around the walls. Taking up most of the space within were two massive dragons. One was a creamy brown, her sides dotted with darker and lighter scales like pebbles on a river bed. There was a low rounded ridge running from her head to the tip of her tail. She lay with her impossibly long body coiled in the center of the chamber, her smooth copper head laying on three eggs, long whiskers and antenna waving gently as if under water. The larger dragon was in turn coiled around her. His skin was a brilliant white even in the flickering torchlight. Veins of glacial blue crisscrossed his limbs and head. His razor talons gleamed cerulean as he flexed them. His snout was longer than his mate's giving his a sharper look and while she lay still he was constantly twitching and moving. Their wings twined together and hid the cavern ceiling from sight. _

"_Is this the Father?" the male rumbled with a voice like the roar of cannons. _

"_It is he," Zech replied._

_Jack couldn't help noticing that the trucker looked nervous as he said it. Jack himself was ready to run and was planning to as soon as the white dragon turned his head away. But the dragon only loomed close and looked directly at the human with burning silver eyes. Jack's legs knocked together and he fell back against Zech._

"_Do you fear me?" the male demanded. _

"_Yes," Jack whispered._

"_Good," the dragon rumbled, "an honest man." _

_The creature reached down and tenderly nuzzled his mate._

"_He is here beloved."_

_The brown dragon raised her head and blinked sleepily at the two humans. Her eyes glowed gold. She shifted and moved towards Jack. A long tongue reached out and flicked across his face and shoulders. Jack fell to his knees, partly out of exhaustion, partly out of fear._

"_He has strength," she murmured. Her voice was low and rolling, powerful and gentle. _

"_Indeed," her mate agreed, "and sense as well."_

"_Do you know why you are here little one?" she asked. _

_Jack took a deep breath and thought hard. The only reason he could think of for Zech bringing him here was for the sake of the sparklings. Three eggs, the thought skittered through his mind._

"_The sparklings," he said, "I am here to seek help for the sparklings."_

"_Logic as well," mused the male._

"_And what would you give us to save your sparklings?"_

_The human was about to announce that he would do anything but those four eyes demanded the whole truth. He weighed his words._

"_Any honorable thing within my power," he finally said._

"_Then let us begin," the female ordered. "Names first. I am Chattahoochee."_

"_I am Yukon," the male rumbled. _

"_I am Zechariah Eagel's Claw Franklin."_

"_I am Jackson Darby."_

"_You wish to save your children as their bodies fail."_

"_Yes."_

"_Here we have three eggs that are capable of housing their life force if it can be transferred."_

_Jack felt a sudden surge of hope but caught himself._

"_I won't destroy the life of one child to save another," he said shakily._

_The dragons glanced at each other then back at him in silent approval._

"_They are not quickened Jackson Darby," Chattahoochee explained, "Twenty and seven eggs I laid from my mate. Twenty and four now grow along my banks. These three are prepared to receive the heart of a child."_

"_You know that these children are voidwalkers?" Jack asked uncertainly. _

"_Do you not think the Eagle's Claw would have told us such a thing?" the dragoness asked._

"_I couldn't say. Zech is my friend," Jack explained with a guilty look at him, "but I really haven't known him that long."_

_Zech smiled at him in understanding and squeezed his arm. No offense taken. _

"_Prudence," murmured the dragoness._

_Jack took another deep breath. Those eyes were boring into his mind, revealing layer after layer of self. He felt unworthy, just one more petty human in a seething mass of people, why should such mercy be granted to him? He thought of the sparklings, innocent and doomed. The dragons were waiting for something he realized. An old phrase ran through his mind, 'Ask and it shall be given unto you.'_

"_Yukon and Chattahoochee," he said staggering to his feet. "Please give me these eggs for the sake of my children."_

"_There is a price," Yukon roared._

"_What price?"_

"_Your memories," Chattahoochee murmured. "You belong with the voidwalkers. Your place is with them and they may not know about us. We have seen that the truth is in you. Such a one is not able to deceive. So that they do not discover us your children will be given to another to tend so long as they inhabit these shells or bear any trace of us."_

"_Agreed," Jack said instantly. "What else?"_

_The dragons smiled at him. It was beautiful and terrifying._

"_You would give up your knowledge that your children might live? You would suffer as though their loss was complete?"_

"_I would carve out my brain if it means that they live," Jack said fiercely._

"_Eagle's Claw, bind him," Yukon ordered._

_Zech produced a carved comb of bone and carefully separated a portion of Jack's hair. He braided it and secured the braid with a leather tie. _

"_So when do I forget?" Jack asked when nothing special happened._

"_Once you awake you won't remember a thing," Zech assured him, "but this one is only temporary. We still need to transfer the sparks, and that can only happen the moment their chambers burst. And after they're transferred we'll need to meet by a river with the parents to secure them in the eggs."_

"_Zech," Jack suddenly interrupted his friend. "I have a request." _

"_Yes?"_

"_The sparklings know you. They trust you and Sal. If I can't be there for them can you?"_

_Zech grew quiet and grasped Jack's arms firmly. Jack returned the grip._

"_I am honored," the trucker said, "and I will do everything within my power for these little ones as long as they live. But I know of another more suited than myself, my sister, to tend to their needs."_

"_Your sister?" Jack asked._

"_Yes," Zech replied._

_The younger man smiled and squeezed his friend's arms. _

"_If you vouch for her than I accept that wholeheartedly."_

"_Great, then here's what you need to do. I'll send you the eggs in a care package."_

_Jack looked skeptically at the football sized eggs, but kept listening. Zech went into detail about how to prepare to sparks. _

_Suddenly the dragon's shifted and together their voices boomed out. _

"_He is worthy! Let him speak in voices of men and of angles for he has love."_

O

O

The unsealed memory faded leaving Jack gasping on his knees on the sandy desert plane.

"Was that supposed to hurt?" he asked blinking away tears as he rubbed his temples.

"Ah, noooo," Zech said a bit nervously, bending down to examine his friend, "but memory seals really aren't my strong point."

Jack was staring at the sparks glowing within the shells.

"Zech there's something wrong," he whispered. "The sparks are getting weaker."

"You can see that? Good. Now we need to synchronize the sparks with the eggs. The sooner we get that done the better."

"What are we waiting for?"

"One; the dragons have to be here to help. Two we need a human female to properly synch. Here comes Sal with my sister now."

Sure enough a cloud of dust announced the approach of the big rig. After a few moments Jack could hear the roar of the might diesel engine. Sal was running Bobtail and easily making triple digits across the flat space. He skidded to a stop and his driver's door popped open. A woman stepped out wearing a long floral print dress and work boots. She was taller than Zech and more powerfully built, not to mention drop dead gorgeous, Jack found himself thinking. Long blond hair was tied back in a braid as thick as Jack's arm. Zech ran up and embraced her.

"Jack this is Galina, my oldest sister," the trucker said. "She will oversee the procedure. Let's…"

"Zechariah," Galina said suddenly. "I won't be overseeing the tuning."

"What! Why not?"

"Because I will," another voice said calmly.

Even in the moonlight Jack could see Zech's face go white as he slowly turned to face the woman climbing out of the cab. She wasn't as tall as Galina or a powerful looking. Her hair was dark and held in a loose ponytail. She wore old jeans and a man's shirt both clean but stained from long use.

"Clanswoman Bearpaw!" Zech said in shock, there was a note of panic in his voice. "You can't be here!"

"Oh yes I can," she said calmly. "Tell me. Were you really going to attempt something of this level on your own? You may have the healer's touch my cousin but not nearly the power or skill for such a thing."

"But the children are, are,"

"Voidwalkers? That makes it even more challenging doesn't it? All the more reason for me to be here."

Zech and Galina gaped at her.

"You mean the clan officially condones this?" Zech asked slowly.

"I condone this. You are doing nothing dishonorable. This is a matter of healing and I am a healer. There is no reason to bring the Others into it. Now are you going to help or stand in between a female member of bear clan and an injured child who needs her help?" the woman's eyes narrowed dangerously.

Zech wisely stepped aside and the woman strode up to Jack. She smiled tenderly at him and took his hands in hers.

"Father of the children, will you accept my assistance in tuning the life force of these little ones to their new eggs?"

Jack looked to Zech. The trucker took a deep breath and smiled ruefully.

"She is one hundred percent trustworthy Jack," he stated, "and far beyond my in both power and skill. It would be best to accept her offer."

"Then I gladly accept," Jack replied with a smile.

The woman, she wasn't particularly beautiful, not like the blond titan Galina was, but she seemed to radiate peace and safety. He couldn't help but trust her.

"Wonderful! Let's get started then," she pronounced.

"Don't we have to wait for the dragons?" Jack asked.

The woman smiled and twirled her index finger in a 'turn around' gesture. Jack obeyed, and nearly had a heart attack. Not ten inches from his face two dragon heads stared at him impassively. He let out a rather undignified squawk and jumped back bumping into the clanswoman.

"Yeah, they like to do that," she whispered to him before giving him a friendly shove in the dragon's direction.

They had come up out of the river silently and lay stretched out along the bank as far as Jack could see. If they had looked big in the cave they looked even larger under the full moon. Their wings were spread like the sails of an old schooner; catching and moving gracefully with the faintest breeze.

"Let us begin," Chattahoochee sang out. "Remove your shoes."


	17. Goodbye

Dying Embers 17

Goodbye

A Transformers Prime FanFiction

All the humans obeyed instantly. One does not disobey a dragon lightly. Sal rolled up to the nest and the four humans surrounded it. The dragons coiled around and over them until the only thing they could see was the moon shining down from above.

"Sarah Wolf's Song Bearpaw," the clanswoman introduce herself.

"Galina Eagle's Beak Franklin," the blond titan followed.

"Salcha Wolf's Keep Franklin."

"Zechariah Eagle's Flight Franklin."

"Jackson Darby," for the first time in his life his name felt just a touch inadequate.

"Yukon of the Northern Lights."

"Chattahoochee of the Southern Task. I gave these empty eggs to be filled."

"Jackson Darby will you place one of your children in my hands?" Sarah queried holding out both palms up.

Jack bent down and picked up the football sized egg and placed in carefully in her hands. She began to run her hands over it. The father watched in fascination as light began to glow at the end of her finger tips. It shifted through more shades of blue than Jack knew existed until it matched the hue of the spark perfectly. Glowing tendrils of light reached out from each of her fingertips to caress the spark. They coiled around the little star and the most beautiful sound that Jack had ever heard hummed through the air around him.

"Let the father make his claim," Bearpaw ordered.

Jack stepped forward and rested his hands on the egg. It was the oddest sensation feeling his life force flowing into the spark and watching it at the same time.

"Stormbreaker," he whispered as tears pooled in his eyes.

He could sense her wild energy, her near fearless nature in the star. He watched as the core spark began to shrink as it spread throughout the shell. The outward expanding Cybertronian life force met and merged with his inward flowing life force. The two energies met and mingled until he sensed equilibrium was reached. Galina was standing beside him now, her hands on the shell. She smiled reassuringly at Jack. He felt something pass between them and wept when he realized it was the responsibility for this life. The blond titan gently accepted the egg when he placed it in her hands and slipped the baseball sized sphere into a pouch slung across her chest.

Bearclaw selected Cometflare next. The actions were the same but Jack marveled at how differently the energy flowed through the egg. There was less resistance and the tuning went far more swiftly this time. Skyfire's spark dimed far more than either of his siblings when his energy was dispersed throughout the shell. Jack took a deep breath as he handed the last egg to Galina.

Something stirred as he turned to ask Bearclaw a question. Jack glanced over and saw two massive form slip into the river.

"Wait," he tried to cry out but his voice was weak and he was out of breath, "I want to," he gasped and staggered to his knees as tears of exhaustion spilled down his cheeks, "thank you." He finally managed to get out.

The young man felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Zech smiling down at him.

"Don't worry," the trucker said helping Jack to is feet. "They heard you. Dragons have amazing hearing."

"I, why am I…" Jack trailed off and collapsed against Zech breathing heavily.

"Well you just spent a massive portion of your life force to stabilize the sparklings and give them a better start," Zech explained with a frown, "but with Cousin Sarah managing things it shouldn't have drained you like that." The trucker paused in thought for a moment. "Take off your shirt."

Jack thought about objecting, it was cold out here, but he finally just shrugged and with a herculean effort pulled off the long sleeved tee he was wearing. Zeck gently lowered him to a sitting position and rested a palm flat against his heaving chest.

"Oh," Zech whispered suddenly a surprised expression appearing on his face. "Oh dear."

"That , is, not comforting," Jack got out between breaths. "If, it's the, damage to, my heart. I already, know."

"Well, yes and no," Zech said. "Listen, where did you learn to give life force?"

"I didn't, this was my first time," Jack said curiously.

"Ah, no," Zech objected as his frown deepened. "From the look of things you've been feeding your life force to the sparklings for weeks, and giving it to another as well. This is probably why they survived the transfer so well, the bond to you kept their sparks whole."

"So that's why I'm so tired?" Jack asked, his attention really wasn't on the conversation. He was watching Galina and Sarah singing to the eggs. With every note the eggs glowed brighter. They were safe. The realization washed over him like the sound of his mother's voice, leaving his limp with exhaustion. There was no more reason to fight. He could rest.

"Yup, Jack! Pay attention, this is important."

Jack dragged his eyes back to his friend.

"You've nearly depleted yourself. Your core energy is dangerously low," the trucker hissed as he shifted to a grip Jack's forearm.

The younger man felt warmth flowing into his cold limbs but was too tired to use his second sight to watch what the trucker was doing.

"I'm going to stabilize you but you will need to have Cousin Sarah look after this when she's done with the eggs. Have you had any odd fainting spells recently?"

"Yes, but we thought it was the pathogens."

"Well that may have been a factor but you are running on will power alone as far as I can see. Denali man, I can't believe you're skilled enough to do what you did but dumb enough to drain yourself like this. It's a miracle you survived the tuning. Cousin Sarah must have compensated for you. Where did you learn what you know from?"

"You," Jack murmured as he finally fell against his friend into peaceful oblivion.

"What?" Zech demanded as he caught the falling figure, his mind racing to figure out what Jack was referring to. "Me? But all I did was give your senses a boost back when we were fighting the…"

The trucker stopped talking when he realized that Jack was out cold. He frowned and shook his head. Sure he had given Jack a life force infusion so he could ID the drones coming in but that didn't count as training, unless…

"I didn't just boost your ability's," Zech realized with a groan. "I awakened them. You poor sap." He swung the smaller man up into his arms and carried him toward the waiting big rig. "You must have been so confused. Your mom wasn't just playing ignorant. I'll bet you didn't even tell her what was going on."

"How is he?" Sal asked in concern as Zech approached.

"Not good, thanks to me," the human replied glumly. "Help us in."

Salcha pulled them up and helped lay Jack on the bunk.

"What's wrong with him?"

"Remember when you and Red Warrior were trashing those robots?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Well I gave Smit… I mean Jack here a boost so he could get an ID on the incoming fliers. He had such a powerful potential coming off of him I just assumed he'd had some training."

"But he had no idea and now he nearly killed himself without knowing it taking care of the sparklings," Sal deduced.

"Yeah I think that's what happened."

"So he's probably been going around for the past months; seeing things that nobody else sees, getting bad feelings he can't explain, and probably going quietly mad and it's all your fault," the big rig continued.

"You have such a strong sense of sympathy brother," the trucker muttered angrily.

"Oh well. No big deal, just tell Cousin Sarah and, boom! All better," Sal said cheerfully. "No harm, no foul."

"When their hearts ruptured it damaged his," Zech said quietly.

Sal grew quiet and draped a black tentacle sympathetically around his brother's shoulders.

"Hey, she can probably fix it anyway," he pointed out.

"Fix what?" a voice asked as the two women pulled themselves into the cab.

"Jack needs help," Zech explained simply, rising from beside his friend and giving the place to the more powerful healer.

She asked a short list of questions, sounding very much like any doctor then gently took the prone young man's vitals. After that she placed her work worn hands on his forehead and closed her eyes. She moved her hands down over his heart and held them there. Suddenly her eyes glowed a brilliant blue and she pressed down firmly on Jack's sternum.

Jack let out a weak cry as fire burned through his chest. He started to struggle but a familiar presence spoke soothingly to him. He relaxed and stopped struggling. At that moment he felt a sense of connection with her. As if they were suddenly vibrating on the same frequency. The pain receded and he blinked his eyes. Clanswoman Bearpaw stood over him smiling.

"Feeling better Mr. Darby?"

"Heart burns!" he gasped.

"Good! That means it's working. It was damaged. I fixed it."

"Spine hurts, bad," he wheezed.

"Even better!"

"Sadist!" he muttered with a weak grin.

"And his sense of humor returns," she smiled pulling him to his feet. "You sir, need training in spades; hundreds of hours of hard work and sweat." She burst out laughing at the look of dread on his face. "But all that can wait until you're healed. Until then do I have your permission to seal your abilities so you don't hurt yourself or someone else?"

"Yes please," Jack said emphatically. "That means I won't be seeing those things right?"

"Well no," she replied. "You are sensitive enough that even sealed you will be able to perceive the Others. You just won't be able to react to them."

"Go ahead," Jack answered with a sigh resting his head in his hands.

Bearpaw pulled out a comb made of whale bone and carefully undid and redid the braid Zech had applied.

"There, done. Now I suppose you have questions?"

"Galina will be taking care of them?" Jack asked looking longingly at the spheres in the pouch she wore.

"Yes," the blond replied, "I and my children after me will care for them until they hatch."

"How long will they be in the eggs?" Jack asked with a frown.

Zech and Galina turned to Sarah with the question reflecting in their eyes.

"Short answer? No idea," the woman shrugged. "Dragon eggs usually take centuries to hatch but when they accept a foreign embryo the time depends on the original species. These are long lived creatures I can sense, probably a very long time."

"So I'll never see them again," Jack asked with a catch in his voice.

"Most likely," she replied.

A black tentacle coiled comfortingly around Jack's arm and Zech sat down on the bunk to wrap his arm around his friend.

"How big are dragon eggs?" Jack queried to change the subject.

"Why," Bearpaw said with an angelic smile, "exactly as big as they need to be," chorused four voices; who then broke into chuckles at the look on Jack's face.

"Don't think about it too hard man," a deep voice growled from the window. "Dragons are just like that."

The emphasis Amarok put on the last word suggested the just how odd 'that' was.

"We'll keep the cubs safe for you now, that's all that matters."

"But if you don't mind me asking," Jack said hesitantly, "I thought you hated voidwalkers."

A snarl of rage filled the cab and Jack backed away from the bared fangs.

"I do! Those loathsome, human stealing ticks," the wolf sneered. "I would devour them in a moment if ever I found one in my scent!"

"But the sparklings…"

"What do they have to do with voidwalkers? The eggs are your cubs. Wolf clan always takes care of human cubs. It's what we do."

"You know they were voidwalkers?" Jack demanded in confusion.

"Yes," the wolf replied.

"Yet you are willing to take care of them?"

"I will protect them with my life…wait…" the creature squinted his eyes at the young man. "Oh! I see. It is a matter of logic," and he scoffed at the word, "you are concerned about. Let me explain to you how it works child. Both dragons and wolf clans were considered to deal with the voidwalkers along with the humans. But it was decided that five things were needed. Power, honor, imagination, logic, and compassion. Dragons have logic, honor, and power. My kind power, honor, and compassion. To honor their debt to the Franklin clans the dragons assisted you. Their honor was stronger than their logic. For compassion for the cubs of man we will care for them. Our compassion is stronger than our logic. Does that explain it? Good, I have to go kill something dangerous," and with that the head withdrew from the window.

"Good ol' Amarok," Sal rumbled happily, "always knows what to say."

Jack stared at the dash skeptically for a moment and shook his head.

"He needed to go kill things?"

"Yeah," Zech said shrugging his shoulders. "We brought him along for security. This kind of procedure attracts all kinds of nasties you don't want to meet without backup."

"Zech," Jack turned to his friend with a frown. "in the cave you gave you middle names as Eagel's Claw, but on the river you said Eagle's Flight?"

"Ha! Proper Clan names are long. Long and complicated. It takes hours to give the full name. For formal situations where time is important there are complicated sets of rules that determine which are used. Kinda like how your name is Jackson but people call you Jack but way more of a pain."

"Well it is time for Galina and myself to get going," Bearpaw suddenly announced, "long trip and all that."

Jack nodded. He stood shakily and held out his hands to Galina weakly. Understanding, she place the golf ball sized spheres in his hands. He took a long last look at them and one by one placed a lingering kiss on each.

"Goodbye my beloved children," he whispered as his tears slipped out unnoticed. No one else could see them through their own.

Jack returned the eggs to the Franklin woman and bolted out of the cab. Zech caught up with him after a few yards and grabbed his elbow to keep the younger man from falling. Behind them Sal rolled out.

"Are you sure she fixed my heart?" their father whispered as the big rig disappeared into the night carrying the sparklings. "It hurts so badly."

"Sarah Bearpaw may be the greatest healer that the North Clan has ever known my friend," Zech said as he helped Jack up onto Amarok's broad back. "But even she can't cure a broken heart."


	18. Rest

Dying Embers 18

Rest

A Transformers Prime FanFiction

Arcee shuttered her optics rapidly. What had she been thinking about? She glanced west at the setting moon and frowned. The seasoned warrior rarely lost track of the time like that. Odd. Must be all the stress lately. Poor Jack must be feeling it… Jack! The Autobot sprang up and stared around the clearing frantically. Her human partner was nowhere to be found. Arcee caught a glimpse of June shifting under the ledge and stopped cold. She shuttered her optics and focused. Jack had probably just wandered off to perform one of those countless biological functions that they were so mysterious about. No reason to worry and wake June.

The cyclebot scanned the ground where he had sat the last time she'd seen him and frowned. The tracks were a bit confused, were there two sets of prints? Arcee shook her helm to clear it of the fog that was plaguing her. It did look like Jack had gone out of his way to muss his tracks but not hide his trail she mused as she let her optics follow the disturbed sand. There was nothing to be worried about, even if the footprints led straight for the cliff. Jack would never… A cold irrational fear gripped her spark.

Arcee slipped into stealth mode, increasing the lubrication to her joints and bringing her peds down with the utmost care. _Don't panic _her processor whispered_, don't wake June. He's fin,e he just went off into the cold night to… Scrap! Why did I let myself lose focus like that? _Her panic was still rising when she saw something alongside the path. He was curled up in a shallow depression formed by the gnarled roots of a millennia old pine tree.

The Autobot dropped silently to her knees beside him, relief flooding through her like energon. She scolded herself for letting her imagination run wild. Jack had probably just felt the need to be alone for awhile. Still, her optics traveled up and down his body looking for any sign of injury or distress. His eyes were moving rapidly under his lids and he was twitching softly. She couldn't see any physical injuries and debated picking him up and carrying him back to his sleeping bag. Arcee didn't want to wake him but from what she had learned from watching Miko fall asleep on the couch innumerable times, a human who slept in this position for long would wake to severe discomfort.

Tenderly the cyclebot reached down and lifted her sleeping partner to her chestplates. Jack's eyes snapped open and he blinked up at her in surprise. She noted with curiosity that he no longer had the pendants around his wrist. Jack slid to his feet and smiled up at her.

"Sorry to wake you partner," Arcee whispered. "I thought you'd be more comfortable in your bag."

"No problem," Jack murmured back. "You were right. I already feel like Bulkhead tripped over me."

The warrior gave a weak smile at that. His sense of humor was at least trying to come back. They walked back towards the camp in silence for a bit until Arcee thought to ask about the pendants; thinking he might want to find them. Jack frowned and seemed to be trying to remember something.

"No," he finally said in a far off voice. "That was why I went out to the desert. I left them there. They are safe."

She arched an optic ridge at that, but decided to ignore it. Somehow Jack seemed content with the situation. If it was the result of completing some secret human ritual then so be it. she wasn't going to question the peace she saw in his eyes. Carefully she led him back through the mesquite. Despite his new found inner peace the human had a hard time returning to sleep. Arcee could hear him tossing and turning until the sun rose. He climbed out of his sleeping bag and got the fire going to heat water for tea. By the time June woke up he was ready to greet her with breakfast and a smile.

O

O

Three days later June declared that their melatonin count was sufficient to satisfy even the most skeptical dermatologist that they had spent time on a tropical island. Arcee caught the worried looks she gave her son as the three packed to return to the base. The plan was to spend one night in the silo to wash up and get their cover stories straight before returning to their normal lives. Raf and Miko had obtained permission to sleep over at the Darbys'. Well, Raf had at any rate, the cyclebot mused as she continued to watch her partner.

Most of the signs of the past three weeks' stress had faded. He still had faint bruises up and down his arms from the sparklings. Arcee felt a pang in her spark every time she looked at them. There was a slight rise on the skin of his shoulder where his immune system was still busily dissolving the last of the pathogens with the aid of something from the still mysterious source of the compound. The spark wrenching pain had faded from his eyes leaving a constant wistful yearning.

Jack had come to her in the middle of the night as she watched the waning gibbous moon and sat down beside her without a word. She had reached out an arm and he'd leaned into her with a soft sigh. They had sat thus for over an hour in companionable silence.

"It doesn't feel like they're dead," Jack had finally spoken up, breaking the quiet. "I know, I accept that I won't be seeing them again, but when it's quiet and still like this and I'm alone… I can feel them calling out to me, and I know that they fell my presence too. Crazy I know, but it's comforting."

Arcee had only smiled down at him and pulled him a little closer. He had fallen asleep in her embrace and the Autobot had let him stay there until the temperature had dropped to far for her to keep him warm. Come to think of it she mused as she gathered up the last of the gear; that was probably the only NREM sleep he'd gotten in days. Perhaps she should mention that to June.

The opening of the ground bridge portal derailed her train of thought. The three companions walked through the swirling green vortex together; out of the bright Nevada sun and into the cool confines of the silo.

O

O

"Pillow fight!" Miko called out as she attacked Jack with the object in question.

The young man gave a weak smile in acknowledgement of her attempt to cheer him up and made a few halfhearted attempts to block her blows with his own. Raf, who was sitting in Bee's lap sniffling over his laptop let out a yelp when she came for him and threw his arms protectively around his computer. The yellow mech chirped at the girl in annoyance and shoed her away with one hand while covering Raf with the other. She gave a little huff and returned to assault the uncomplaining if unresponsive Jack.

Optimus observed all of this as he stood before the monitor. Compared to his daily tasks as Commander and Chief of the Autobot forces before the fall of Cybertron, let alone what he managed as a clerk in the Hall of Records before the war, the amount of data the computer provided him was minimal if constant. This left a good part of his processor unoccupied. Before the children had fallen into their lives he had all too often simply allowed the unused processing capacity to lie dormant. Now, even when it appeared that he was entirely focused on the data stream, the Last of the Primes was usually observing the children interact with his Autobots and each other.

The Autobot leader's greatest pleasure in life now came from seeing his soldiers' face plates light up at the antics of the children. When they were absent and the silo rang hollowly with only the sound of his own heavy pedfalls it felt as if a part of him was missing; a part he had only recently rediscovered.

Once he had understood the relationship the mature humans had with their offspring it had surprised him that the authorities had let the children stay under the Autobot's protection. Since then he had developed suspicions about why it had been allowed, but he could not find it in his spark to resent the reasoning he suspected of the leaders of this world; not when their decision resulted in the base being filled with laughter and joy for the first time is ages.

Now he watched with keen interest the odd family interacting on the floor of the silo. Each trying to comfort each other in their own way; Raf by doing some useful thing, Miko by infusing the atmosphere with energy and life, and Jack. Optimus smiled inwardly in understanding. Jack was pouring every drop of his slowly returning strength into that slow, sad smile; trying to reassure everyone around him that he was fine, that he was strong. Too often Optimus had found himself on the other side of that same expression, comforting his comrades when all he wanted to do was break down in grief.

A movement from the humans' living area caught his attention. Mrs. Darby was staring at her son with a worried expression on her face. She exchanged a glance with Ratchet and the two healers put their heads together for a short conversation. It ended when the woman glanced over at the Prime and nodded her consent with a relieved expression. The nurse returned to her bed on the couch and lay down. Ratchet walked over to his commander and activated their privet comm. line.

*Optimus.*

*Ratchet.*

*Nurse Darby was wondering if you could have a talk with Jack,* the medic stated in his usual to the point manner.

*Gladly old friend,* Optimus replied, *about any subject in particular?"

*Yes, he is not getting enough of the proper phase of sleep. She thinks it will do him good to talk out whatever is bothering him.*

*Please assure Mrs. Darby that I will do whatever is in my power old friend.*

*I will,* with that short reply the busy medic turned back to his station.

O

O

"Arcee," Optimus called out just as the younger humans were bedding down for the night. "There are some odd power fluctuations coming from corridor five-Gamma."

"I'm on it," the blue fem said. "Jack?"

"Actually I'd like Jack to accompany me," the Prime stated quietly. "There are some conduits I need to examine in conjunction with the matter that will be too small for a Cybertronian of my mass."

Arcee gave a small smile at the subterfuge. At the mention of work Miko had suddenly fallen sound asleep under her covers. She wouldn't be nosing about in the private conversation the Prime clearly intended to have with Jack. The cyclebot gathered the tools she'd need and headed off in the direction of the power fluctuations. She immediately squelched the small spark of jealousy that flared in her at the sight of Jack following Optimus down another corridor. No, she didn't like it that there were things her partner needed that she couldn't provide, but she would forever be truly grateful that her commander could and did take the time to comfort Jack.

O

O

Jack climbed out of the shaft covered in cobwebs and dirt. How all that dirt got in the conduits in the first place was a mystery of epic proportions, let alone how the spider webs appeared without a single living arachnid being present.

"All done," he called out as he hopped into the corridor floor.

They began to move towards the next junction and Jack let out a tired groan as he collapsed against the wall.

"I give up," he sighed.

"Pardon me?" Optimus replied.

"Whatever Mom asked you to talk to me about? Let's get to it. I think checking the routing on one more power junction will drive me mad. I just want to get to bed."

The leader of the Autobots smiled down on his perceptive charge warmly.

"It was actually your sleep patterns your mother was concerned with."

"My sleep patterns?"

"Yes she is afraid that you have not been entering the proper sleep mode required for health."

"I have been pretty tired," Jack admitted, rubbing the back of his head ruefully. "But I just figured it was because of, well everything."

"It is the diagnosis of both Nurse Darby and Ratchet that you have been spending what little sleep you do get in the, REM state, I believe she called it and not the deeper healing sleep state. They suspect it is indeed 'everything' that is causing this."

"And she thought talking it out with you would help," the young man said with a sigh.

"Indeed."

"I guess I wouldn't mind talking about it," Jack said doubtfully, "especially not with you, but I just don't know what good," the young man was interrupted by a wide yawn, "it would do."

He looked guiltily up at the Prime and glanced away. That gesture was familiar mused the Prime. The sparklings used it when they felt guilty about something and Jack had nearly always reacted by… ah. The Leader of the Autobots knelt and held out both arms to the human. Jack hesitated only a moment, then climbed into the welcoming embrace. He leaned against Optimus's broad chestplates and let the tears he had been holding back fall freely down his cheeks.

The human cried freely and without bitterness. He had cried his last tears of pain long before. These tears were the stress of the past weeks flowing out of him in a moment of pure catharsis. For the first time since this had all started there was no one who needed him to be strong around to see his weakness. He did not have to be the father here, but only the child being comforted.

"I'm sorry," he finally whispered into the warm mesh, "I'm sorry your babies died."

Optimus felt a stab of grief at the heartfelt apology and carefully held the human a little tighter. It was he who should be offering it up to Jack, but he did not now correct the young man, did not demean his grief. There would be time enough for long talks after Jack had rested, for the Prime could already sense the human's biorhythms settling down into sleep patterns. In short order the human had slipped through REM sleep and was easing in and out of NREM.

Optimus began comparing and contrasting all the conditions the young man had attempted to sleep in over the past weeks. Whenever the data had indicated he was in the NREM state one factor had remained constant. With a dawning understanding the red and blue mech triggered the release on his main chest plates. They did not open all the way but instead merely cracked apart to let out the steady thrum of the ancient spark they protected. Almost the moment the sound reached the human he dropped completely into the deep dreamless state where mind, body, and soul find healing.

Optimus carried his small charge back to the silo and retook his position in front of the main screen. Once more he began to perform his duty. Arcee came over and wordlessly examined Jack. She smiled up at her commander gratefully and got a blanket to drape over the recumbent form. Jack spent the rest of the night sleeping deeply in the warm arms of the Last of the Primes, with the thrumming of the mighty spark chamber keeping the dreams at bay.


	19. Epilogue

Dying Embers 19

Epilogue

These Roads We Travel

A Transformers Prime FanFiction

A massive wolf loped along through the night forest. Moonlight glinted off his silver-grey fur when the orb peeked out from behind the clouds. A close observer might have noticed that the figure riding the creature was exhausted. Still the young man managed to keep his seat as the wind whipped his long ponytail out behind him. The two approached the main road running north and south in this part of the continent. Two big rigs were rolling along their lights glowing warmly in the darkness. Swiftly the wolf matched speed with the lagging semi. The rider swung down off the creature's back and was pulled into the open cab door by a black tie strap.

"Whoo," Zech gasped out as he fell against the cushions, "I don't know how you wolf riders do it Cousin Sarah. Give me a big rig any day."

The woman let out a chuckle and rearranged her pony tail.

"All it is is practice Cuz. I'm sure a day of trucking would tire me out just as well."

"And Zech is just out of shape," Galina smirked at her older brother.

He growled at her playfully and stretched out as far as the cab would allow.

"You just be glad you're carrying babies right now or them would be fighten words."

The interior of the cab grew quiet as his words turned their attention back to the children.

"So, ah, how are they doing?" Sal asked to break the silence.

The blond woman carefully scooped the spherical eggs out of the pouch and held them up for the rest to see.

"Two are strong. There is no doubt that they will grow stronger with each day. This third one, Skyfire will need close watching and care," she said.

"What are they going to hatch out like?" the big rig continued his questioning. He was feeling a bit ignorant among the healers collected in his cab.

Galina passed the eggs around to be crooned over and admired before she answered.

"As the time of their return is unknown so will be their form. An unfertilized dragon egg will only rarely give a hosted embryo dragon characteristics, and the water dragons were sure to purge any of their own guidance from the shells before the transfer. It depends now on how much they remember of their old forms and how much they will be influenced by their human father."

"So is that the long way of saying you have no idea Sis?" Sal asked in frustration.

"Essentially yes," the brunet interrupted, there was a subtle note of irritation that the semi caught.

The big rig's instincts flared up.

"What gives?" he demanded bluntly.

The woman blinked back at him and tilted her head in a question face suddenly composed.

"Don't try to wriggle out of this Cousin Sarah," the creature warned her. "Something is bothering you, I can smell it."

She glanced out the window to make sure the pack that was following them was at a safe distance. The woman gently placed the egg she was cuddling back in Galina's sash before throwing back her head and growling. The other humans started at the unusual sign of aggression from the healer.

"The children are _his_," she fumed, flexing her hands like talons. "We should not be taking them from him, breaking up his family. We should be bringing him with us. I know he doesn't have the proper support to care for them until they hatch but…" her voice drifted off in frustration as the three others stared at her in shock.

Zech shifted excitedly in his seat.

"Wait? Does this mean that if we Franklins invited the Darby's to come live with us HE would be allowed to regain his mem,"

"NO!" she snarled; crushing the spark of hope that had flared up for his friend. "I don't like it but this is the only way. Already there are murmurs among the others. We cannot risk the voidwalkers being discovered. The eggs can be hidden, but if their father were anywhere near them the resonance would attract all sorts of predators, and no matter how many the wolves slew eventually one would escape and carry word of this to those who have neither the dragons honor nor the wolves compassion."

"But you are the sh yáéiyi shaatk'," Zech protested. "If you get behind it and throw your power around a bit no one would dare oppose you."

"Zech," Galina said quietly, stilling her brother's impassioned argument.

Bearpaw sighed and leaned forward to rest her elbow's on her knees.

"This is why I didn't want to say anything," she muttered. "I knew you'd get all worked up. This is as much as I can do. It is the only way I can see right now to save the sparklings and they have to be saved. Even if I don't like it emotionally. I know that it would be pointless to try and change the minds of the counsel. You greatly overestimate the influence I wield Cousin."

"What do you mean they have to be saved?" Sal asked, ignoring the rest of the speech for the moment. "I mean other than the obvious, we can't let children die."

"They are the last children of their race," the healer replied. "Much will rest on their shoulders in time."

With that cryptic statement the woman opened the driver's door and leapt out into the night. A swiftly running form, similar to Amarok but far larger, overtook the semi and raced off into the darkness. Zech shook his head and muttered something to himself.

"Come again?" his sister asked.

"I said, that raises more questions than answers."

"Speaking of questions, how's Lola?" Galina asked slyly.

The woman could sense the tension in her brothers and was eager to clear the air of frustration over life's injustices for the sparklings' sake. The question had the desired effect. Zech turned a bit red and sputtered for a moment, but Sal perked right up and chimed in.

"Oh she's _wonderful_, in fact Zechy spent nearly two hours in Ensenada telling her just how wonderful she was."

"Sal!" his brother howled in mock anguish at the betrayal.

Galina sat back with a smile and rearranged the eggs while she watched the chaos she had initiated unfold.

O

O

"Prime?" Fowler stepped into the base hesitantly; his usual bluster seeming to have abandoned the agent.

"Welcome Agent Fowler," the Autobot greeted him warmly, rising from the human's living area where he had been deep in conversation with Jack.

"I have a message from my superiors," Fowler said shifting his eyes around the base nervously, not wanting to meet Optimius's optics. "A request really."

"And what is this request?" the Prime inquired patiently.

The agent visibly braced himself, shot Jack a guilty look, and took a deep breath. The rest of the Autobots had wandered over by now and were staring curiously at the man. It was rare to see him so flustered.

"They want the bodies of the sparklings to study," Fowler got out in a rush.

In the dead silence that followed the agent just stood there with his head down desperately trying not to make eye contact with Jack. Arcee recovered first.

"Fowler, how dare you…?" she snarled moving towards the agent menacingly.

"Arcee," Optimus spoke quietly but firmly.

The cyclebot stopped in mid stride but still glared scorchingly at the human. Bumblebee moved up beside her and laid a restraining hand on her arm chirping softly.

"Yeah, it's not his fault," Bulkhead pointed out.

"Well if that's a 'no' I'll just," Fowler backed up towards the elevator but the voice of Optimus arrested his retreat.

"Agent Fowler, wait. Arcee, stand down. Jack, please come here. Ratchet."

The silo grew quiet as Jack and the medic approached Optimus. The Prime nodded to Ratchet and stepped back.

"The decision is ultimately Jack's as their guardian," Ratchet said heavily. "But,"

"Wait," Bulkhead demanded. "You can't tell me you're actually considering,"

"Bulkhead, enough," Optimus rumbled. "Ratchet, continue."

Fowler was looking every bit as stunned as Bulkhead and Arcee. He glanced over at Jack the boy, no, man, he thought was standing there calmly listening to the medic with the detached manner of someone who has already made their decision and was only waiting for everyone else to have their say.

"As I was saying we need to examine them," the medibot's voice was harsher and more clipped than usual as he spoke. "Far too much of the pathogen was released into the atmosphere of this planet. I think it will all degrade harmlessly but I can't know without more data. Observing the sparklings," his vocalized seemed to freeze up for a moment, "degradation rate will give us invaluable data. The pathogens pose too great a risk to Cybertronians but human scientists would be able to at least make observations. I have already discussed this with Jack," the medic nodded to the human.

"I don't like the idea of someone dissecting them," Jack said softly, addressing everyone but looking at Arcee, "but Ratchet is right. We need to know what a scientific analysis can give us."

The cyclebot stiffened the nodded curtly.

"It's your choice," she said stiffly. "But I still don't see why Ratchet can't do it himself. Starscream somehow managed to work with the stuff…"

"Maybe I could rig up a safe system," the medic harshly interrupted her, "maybe I should. But,"

The rest of the Autobots watched in shock as the normally stoic medic staggered back against the railing and covered his faceplates with his servos with a groan.

"I should be able to do it," the red and white mech whispered. "I'm a scientist. I should be detached, reasonable, but Primus help me, I can't. I can't bear to see them like that, to treat them like," he broke off and stared at the concrete floor of the silo in shame.

Optimus came forward to rest a hand on his friend's shoulder. Bulkhead and Bumblebee stared in amazement at the medic. Arcee felt burning shame. She hadn't even considered how the weeks of constant stress had affected the healer. He had watched them die, she realized suddenly, watched them far more closely than any of them, and now he blamed himself for being unable to save them.

"I'm sorry," the cyclebot said softly.

The medic visibly shook himself and stiffened his shoulders.

"Jack?" he snapped out.

"Fowler, the answer is yes," the human stated firmly, "with a few restrictions."

In due time all the necessary forms had been filled out and the agent left the base with the three cheerless little caskets. Fowler had taken Jack aside and sworn that he would personally see to it that the little one's remains were treated with respect. But oddly enough Jack found the ultimate fate of the empty shells didn't seem to matter that much. He closed his eyes and sought out that faint warm sensation he had come to associate with the sparklings.

O

O

On the Alaska highway, in the northbound lane a gunmetal grey semi rolled on seemingly unconcerned that it's tall Native American driver was dozing peacefully. In the passenger seat an equally tall Scandinavian woman slept with her hands clasped over a colorful sash.

Sharp eyes noted each milepost they passed and relayed the information. Carefully plans were made. Odd dark haired men placed 'out of order' signs in particular rest stops. Certain roads were blockaded, and at the intended location a dark form waited.

Galina stretched lazily and blinked. She looked out over the darkness and let out an inquisitive grunt.

"Nearest open rest stop is Trails North," Sal informed her, "three miles."

His sister nodded in consent and dropped back to sleep. She woke when the big rig slowed down to turn into the parking lot. Zech didn't even bother waking up. The woman climbed down out of the cab and strolled into the restrooms. When she came out Galina took a moment to stretch and breathe deeply. In the middle of the movement there was a flurry of dark feathers. Before the woman could react sharp talons had slashed open the sash and a powerful beak rapped down three times. With a laughing cry the raven dodged Galina's grabbing hands and flew out into the surrounding trees.

"Aankaawu Yeil!" Sal roared out in furry once he recognized the perpetrator. "Galina, get in, hurry."

The woman jumped into the open cab and the big rig slammed the door behind her. She pulled out the eggs and examined them with a curious frown.

"I can't believe that garbage eating crow did that!" Sal snarled. "Attacking eggs who were under clan protection? If they are injured at all I swear I will be chewing raven bones from here to the,"

"Sal enough!" Zech barked out.

Like their sister he was closely examining the spheres.

"He didn't hurt them," the young man spoke slowly.

"They were too strong for him?" Sal demanded.

"No," Galina explained holding up one for Salcha to see. "He _blessed,_ them."

On each egg was a reflective black symbol, but the shells were sound.

"Health, cunning, and companionship interconnected," Zech read the marks with a curious frown.

"Well he might not have hurt them," Sal said, still in a huff, "but even a blessing from that raven is a crapshoot. Who know what it will do to the kids."

"It was a freely given blessing," Galina said softly as she ran her hands over the smooth shells. "True we can have no idea what form it will take but we went from knowing nothing to knowing nothing so that changes little. I can sense no malice in the gift. He truly means it as a blessing. I will have Cousin Sarah examine them again when we get home but I do not thing any evil will come of this."

"So no eating birds on the way home," the big rig sounded a bit disappointed.

"No, just hurry back to the ranch."

As they pulled away a large raven hopped out of the spruce scrub to watch them leave. It cackled to itself in satisfaction. Wolf clan had had far too many chances to prove themselves loyal allies to the humans in the years since the disaster. It was good he had heard of them moving the eggs. Now the humans would be sure to see what powerful, what clever, what useful, allies Raven clan was. No wolf could give such a blessing to a dragon egg, no eagle would. He preened his battle scarred body happily. He did love it when a plan came to fruition. The creature pondered what he had given the hatchlings until something shiny caught the raven's eye and the summoned his minions to come investigate it.

O

O

Bearpaw confirmed Galina's surmise. The raven's blessing was just that. No malice had been intended and no mischief should result. As to how exactly it would affect the eggs however she could give at least a partial answer. A powerful but subtle bond was forming between the three siblings triggered by the blessing of companionship interconnected. She could detect the sparks responding to each other. The bond was something inherent in the essence of the embryonic voidwalkers, not introduced by the raven. How that bond would manifest once the eggs hatched would be something to witness she mused.

Every egg needs a nest. After much prayer, thought, observation, and time spent consulting the elders Galina had designed one for the sparklings. The spherical eggs seemed to need metal and absorbed it on contact. This was the main inspiration behind the structure.

At the far north end of the ranch was a circle of standing and tumbled down glacial boulders. Cousin Gabe came out and dug a hole as deep as his backhoe could and still make it spherical in the center of the ring. The ranch and all surrounding properties were scoured for every non-running vehicle, old refrigerator, and all sundry scrap metal. Any nonmetallic material was carefully stripped off and the metal was compacted down into the nest.

Using high grade railway steel Uncle Thomas had left over from some project the woman welded together a geodesic sphere just big enough for her to sit up comfortably in. The bottom hemisphere Galina plated with pure copper. This was set in the center of the nest. Now favors had to be called in. Word went out and within a few days sacks of unprocessed gold dust began arriving from all over Clan territory. When enough had come to half fill the sphere Galina and Ma Franklin tenderly placed the eggs into the glimmering bed. More dust came and soon the sphere was filed and the last copper plate secured on top. More metal was brought in and the blond woman spent weeks welding frames from dozens of different vehicles together; from lightweight piper cubs to surplus military tanks.

She left a sturdy path she could crawl through to get to the little ones to check on them but otherwise it was a solid mass of metal the size of a small house. The spherical construct was causally called an art project when it was mentioned and many people came to admire it, never guessing the true treasure it contained. As the years passed she would often add more metal as the growing embryos absorbed what they needed.

O

O

Winter turns to spring in the far North with a rush of growth and the calling of returning geese. The geese mate, lay, and raise their young; returning south with the coming of the snow. Deep in the core of a very odd nest, three felt these rhythms repeat themselves for the first time. When the calling of the geese came again the thrumming of their mighty wings sent a thrill down through the nest and it was felt by one of the three. Inside the egg the little one twitched her own germinal wings in eagerness and her brothers responded in kind. When the birds left again a deep longing filled the bond the three shared.

Just as little bodies were taking form from the metals absorbed, thoughts began to take form, These thoughts were nourished by the constant outpouring of love and care from the large Franklin clan. The desire to find something, to fly away and seek for it grew stronger with every passing day. From thoughts speech would arise, and when the geese returned again the thoughts solidified into a single word shared by all three.

_Daddy…_

**The Beginning **


End file.
